If life is an illusion it's a pretty painful one.

The triumph of vegetation is total.

Tenderness is a deeper instinct than seduction, which is why it is so hard to give up hope.

When we think about the present, we veer wildly between the belief in chance and the evidence in favour of determinism. When we think about the past, however, it seems obvious that everything happened in the way that it was intended.

I prefer reading to writing. Reading changes your world view. Writing changes absolutely nothing. Except, of course, when it makes you rich.

It's a curious idea to reproduce when you don't even like life.

I'd say that the question whether love still exists plays the same role in my novels as the question of God's existence in Dostoevsky.