Depressive lucidity, usually described as a radical withdrawal from ordinary human concerns, generally manifests itself by a profound indifference to things which are genuinely of minor interest. Thus it is possible to imagine a depressed lover, while the idea of a depressed patriot seems frankly inconceivable.

The world outside had its own rules, and those rules were not human.

My novels are all ideas.

When you read the Koran, you give up. At least the Bible is very beautiful because Jews have an extraordinary literary talent.

Rumor had it that he was homosexual; in reality, in recent years, he was simply a garden-variety alcoholic.

I think that if writers don't speak about real life, it's because they don't know it.

Now abideth beauty, truth, and intensity; but the greatest of these is intensity.