You may win your heart's desire, but in the end you're cheated of it by death.

Happy are the beloved and the lovers and those who can live without love.

My books standing there on the shelf do not know that I have written them.

I am not sure of anything, I know nothing . . . can you imagine that I don't even know the date of my own death?

I think of myself as being an ethical man, but I don't try to teach ethics. I have no message. I know little about contemporary life. I don't read a newspaper. I dislike politics and politicians. I belong to no party whatever. My private life is a private life. I try to avoid photography and publicity.

It also occurred to him that throughout history, humankind has told two stories: the story of a lost ship sailing the Mediterranean seas in quest of a beloved isle, and the story of a god who allows himself to be crucified on Golgotha.

The worst labyrinth is not that intricate form that can entrap us forever, but a single and precise straight line