Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.

Disgust at having to talk about oneself is what distinguishes novelistic talent from lyric talent.

But deep down she said to herself, Franz maybe strong, but his strength is directed outward; when it comes to the people he lives with, the people he's loves, he's weak. Franz's weakness is called goodness. Franz would never give Sabina orders. He would never command her, as Tomas had, to lay the mirror on the floor and walk back and forth on it naked. Not that he lacks sensuality; he simply lacks the strength to give orders. There are things that can be accomplished only by violence. Physical love is unthinkable without violence.

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.

Culture is perishing in overproduction, in an avalanche of words, in the madness of quantity.

The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.

The Greek word for "return" is nostos. Algos means "suffering." So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.