There's a lot of pride involved in my refusal to believe in god.

I very much enjoy reading other writers' diaries, mainly because it makes me ask myself: Are they like you? How do they think?

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

‎The past is always an invented land.

I was at the end of my tether when my first book was published. For eight years I didn't make a penny, I worked so hard, didn't drink, didn't enjoy life.

The entire world was like a palace with countless rooms whose doors opened into one another. We were able to pass from one room to the next only by exercising our memories and imaginations, but most of us, in our laziness, rarely exercised these capacities, and forever remained in the same room.

The real choice we have to make is between peace and nationalism.