High culture is nothing but a child of that European perversion called history, the obsession we have with going forward, with considering the sequence of generations a relay race in which everyone surpasses his predecessor, only to be surpassed by his successor. Without this relay race called history there would be no European art and what characterizes it: a longing for originality, a longing for change. Robespierre, Napoleon, Beethoven, Stalin, Picasso, they're all runners in the relay race, they all belong to the same stadium.

I understand you, and I shall not attempt to make you change your mind. I am too old to want to improve the world. I have told you what I think, and that is all. I shall remain your friend even if you act contrary to my convictions, and I shall help you even if I disagree with you.

There are things that can be accomplished only by violence. Physical love is unthinkable without violence.

The greater the ambiguity, the greater the pleasure.

The worst thing is not that the world is unfree, but that people have unlearned their liberty.

Any new possibility that existence acquires, even the least likely, transforms everything about existence.

Seeing is limited by two borders: Strong light, which blinds, and total darkness.