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

Writing is nothing more than a guided dream.

In adultery, there is usually tenderness and self-sacrifice; in murder, courage; in profanation and blasphemy, a certain satanic splendour. Judas elected those offences unvisited by any virtues: abuse of confidence and informing.

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

I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.

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.

For me, beauty is a physical sensation, something we feel with our whole body. It is not the result of judgement. We do not arrive at it by way of rules. We either feel beauty or we don't.