Funeral expenses are the curse of the poor everywhere on earth, they are wasteful and unnecessary, they are the price of foolish ostentation and a display that is less an evidence of grief than a vulgar travesty of those pompous obsequies where no grief is.

I write the big scenes first, that is, the scenes that carry the meaning of the book, the emotional experience.

A novel should be an experience and convey an emotional truth rather than arguments.

Reality is a narrow little house which becomes a prison to those who can't get out of it.

An old mans memories, like his bones, grow sharp with age and show their true shapes.

No doubt any connoisseur, any collector, some bored old millionaire when he shows off his treasures, is seeking in your praise the resurrection and the life.

Religion is organized to satisfy and guide the soul -- politics does the same thing for the body.