given the nature of the human couple, the love of a man and a woman is a priori inferior to that which can exist (at least in the best instances) in the love between man and dog...It is a completely selfless love.

The novelist's ambition is not to do something better than his predecessors but to see what they did not see, say what they did not say.

For Sabina, living in truth, lying neither to ourselves nor to others, was possible only away from the public: the moment someone keeps an eye on what we do, we involuntarily make allowances for that eye, and nothing we do is truthful. Having a public, keeping a public in mind, means living in lies.

Joking is a barrier between man and the world. Joking is the enemy of love and poetry.

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)

True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power.

Sensuality is the total mobilization of the senses: an individual observes his partner intently, straining to catch every sound.