A being afire with life cannot foresee death; in fact, by each of his deeds he denies that death exists.
Marguerite Yourcenarage means nothing. If anything I feel that I'm still a child: eternity and childhood are my ages.
Marguerite YourcenarOne nourishes one's created characters with one's own substance: it's rather like the process of gestation. To give the character life, or to give him back life, it is of course necessary to fortify him by contributing something of one's own humanity, but it doesn't follow from that that the character is I, the writer, or that I am the character. The two entities remain distinct.
Marguerite YourcenarLove is a punishment. We are punished for not having been strong enough to remain alone.
Marguerite YourcenarSickness disgusts us with death, and we wish to get well, which is a way of wishing to live. But weakness and suffering, with manifold bodily woes, soon discourage the invalid from trying to regain ground: he tires of those respites which are but snares, of that faltering strength, those ardors cut short, and that perpetual lying in wait for the next attack.
Marguerite Yourcenar