There are no moral or intellectual merits. Homer composed the Odyssey; if we postulate an infinite period of time, with infinite circumstances and changes, the impossible thing is not to compose the Odyssey, at least once.

I think that the reader should enrich what he is reading. He should misunderstand the text; he should change it into something else.

How can we manage to illuminate the pathos of our lives?

My friends tell me that I am an intruder, that I don't really write when I attempt poetry. But those of my friends who write in prose say that I'm no writer when I attempt prose. So really I don't know what to do, I'm in a quandary.

God must not engage in theology. The writer must not destroy by human reasonings the faith that art requires of us.

Reading is an activity subsequent to writing: more resigned, more civil, more intellectual.

So plant your own gardens and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.