Nothing would disgust me more, morally, than receiving an Oscar.

Thank God I'm an atheist.

I can't help feeling that there is no beauty without hope, struggle, and conquest.

Refuse any image that could have a rational meaning or any memory or culture

In any society, the artist has a responsibility. His effectiveness is certainly limited and a painter or writer cannot change the world. But they can keep an essential margin of non-conformity alive. Thanks to them the powerful can never affirm that everyone agrees with their acts. That small difference is important.

I would give my life for a man who is looking for the truth. But I would gladly kill a man who thinks that he has found the truth.

The bar... is an exercise in solitude. Above all else, it must be quiet, dark, very comfortable-and, contrary to modern mores, no music of any kind, no matter how faint. In sum, there should be no more than a dozen tables, and a client that doesn't like to talk.