The secret to happiness, at least to peace of mind, is knowing how to separate sex from love. And, if possible, eliminating romantic love from your life, which is the love that makes you suffer. That way, I assure you, you live with greater tranquility and enjoy things more.

When I was young, when I started to write, we were totally convinced that literature was a kind of weapon.

We must mistrust utopias: they usually end in holocausts.

The foundations of liberty are private property and the rule of law; this system guarantees the fewest possible forms of injustice, produces the greatest material and cultural progress, most effectively stems violence and provides the greatest respect for human rights. According to this concept of liberalism, freedom is a single, unified concept. Political and economic liberties are as inseparable as the two sides of a medal.

Writing a book is a very lonely business. You are totally cut off from the rest of the world, submerged in your obsessions and memories.

The worst thing that can happen to an artist is to be subsidized by the state. It leads to an intellectual and artistic castration.

Memory is a snare, pure and simple; it alters, it subtly rearranges the past to fit the present.