Fatalism is the lazy man's way of accepting the inevitable.

Why grab possessions like thieves, or divide them like socialists when you can ignore them like wise men?

I judge people's charm by the ease with which I express myself in their presence.

Seeking revenge: what a lack of foresight.

At first, when an idea, a poem, or the desire to write takes hold of you, work is a pleasure, a delight, and your enthusiasm knows no bounds. But later on you work with difficulty, doggedly, desperately. For once you have committed yourself to a particular work, inspiration changes its form and becomes an obsession, like a love-affair… which haunts you night and day! Once at grips with a work, we must master it completely before we can recover our idleness.

Being bilingual is like having a wife and a mistress. One can never be sure of either.

My only books were women's looks.