Draw a line; draw a line that pleases you. And remember that it is not the artist's role to copy the outlines of things but to create a world of his own lines on paper." (pp.28-29)

Suspending moral judgment is not the immorality of the novel; it is its morality.

Kitsch excludes everything from its purview which is essentially unacceptable in human existence.

I have a strong will to love you for eternity.

Two people in love, alone, isolated from the world, that's beautiful.

If our planet has seen some eighty billion people it is difficult to suppose hat every individual has had his or her own repertory of gestures. Arithmetically, it is simply impossible. Without the slightest doubt, there are far fewer gestures in the world than there are individuals. That finding leads us to a shocking conclusion: a gesture is more individual than an individual. We could put it in the form of an aphorism: many people, few gestures.

As you live out your desolation, you can be either unhappy or happy. Having that choice is what constitutes your freedom.