I consider books to be good for our health, and also our spirits, and they help us to become poets or scientists, to understand the stars or else to discover them deep within the aspirations of certain characters, those who sometimes, on certain evenings, escape from the pages and walk among us humans, perhaps the most human of us all.

I believe that I've been asked all possible questions. I, myself, if I were a journalist, would not know what to ask me.

I don't doubt that a man can live perfectly well on his own, but I'm convinced that he begins to die as soon as he closes the door of his house behind him.

all stories are like those about the creation of the universe, no one was there, no one witnessed anything, yet everyone knows what happened.

People might ask me, What do you propose instead? I propose nothing. I am a mere novelist, I just write about the world as I see it. It is not my job to transform it. I cannot transform it all by myself, and I wouldn't even know how to. I limit myself to saying what I believe the world to be.

We've all had our moments of weakness, and if we manage to get through today without any, we'll be sure to have some tomorrow.

You know the name you were given, you do not know the name that you have