It takes a lot of energy and a lot of neurosis to write a novel. If you were really sensible, you'd do something else.

A city becomes a world when one loves one of its inhabitants.

We should tackle reality in a slightly jokey way, otherwise we miss its point.

Who invented the human heart, I wonder? Tell me, and then show me the place where he was hanged.

Art like life is an open secret.

I suppose the secret of his success is in his tremendous idleness which almost approaches the supernatural.

Life is like a cucumber. One minute it's in your hand, the next it's up you ass.