Captivated by its discipline, humanity forgets and goes on forgetting that it is the discipline of chess players, not of angels.

Literature is not exhaustible, for the sufficient and simple reason that a single book is not. A book is not an isolated entity: it is a narration, an axis of innumerable narrations. One literature differs from another, either before or after it, not so much because of the text as for the manner in which it is read.

Israelites, Christians and Muslims profess immortality, but the veneration they render this world proves they believe only in it, since they destine all other worlds, in infinite number, to be its reward or punishment.

Writing is nothing more than a guided dream.

The art of writing is mysterious, the opinions we hold are ephemeral.

If I were asked to name the chief event in my life, I should say my father's library.

Doubt is one of the names of intelligence.