I don't for a minute think that Hitler is like Joan of Arc. But I think that at that deep level of tropisms, Hitler or Stalin must have experienced the same tropisms as anyone else.

It's the duty of all novelists, all painters, all musicians, all people who try to make art move: to look for something they feel authentically, without paying attention to styles.

One can't write without having read - you have to read before beginning to write - and universities offer a very good opportunity to read.

One can't write for all readers. A poet cannot write for people who don't like poetry.

Neither reproaches nor encouragements are able to revive a faith that is waning.

We're swallowed up only when we are willing for it to happen.

The reader has to be creative when he's reading. He has to try to make the thing alive. A good reader has to do a certain amount of work when he is reading.