Time had not faded my memories (as I had prayed to God it might), nor had it healed my wounds as it is said always to do. I began each day with the hope that the next day would be better, my recollections a little less pointed, but I would awake to the same pain, as if a black lamp were burning eternally inside me, radiating darkness.

I believe that it isn't victories but defeats that promote nationalism.

Writing my own diary is the best form of remembrance, but only for my own use. I need these notes; it's like an impulse.

The silence of snow, thought the man sitting just behind the bus driver.

In Europe the rich are refined enough to act as if they're not wealthy. That is how civilized people behave. If you ask me, being cultured and civilized is not about everyone being free and equal; it's about everyone being refined enough to act as if they were. Then no one has to feel guilty.

In fact, my entire childhood consisted of looking at photographs in which the viewer sees the ball behind the line, looking through the goal net, and the poor goalkeeper in front of the net.

My religion is complicated. Literature is my true religion. After all, I come from a completely non-religious family.