It appears that even the different parts of the same person do not converse among themselves, do not succeed in learning from each other what are their desires and their intentions.

All good biography, as all good fiction, comes down to the study of original sin, of our inherent disposition to choose death when we ought to choose life.

Where there is real love one wants to go to church first.

Art is not a luxury, but a necessity.

Journalism: an ability to meet the challenge of filling the space.

There is, of course, no reason for the existence of the male sex except that one sometimes needs help with moving the piano.

A bad short story or novel or poem leaves one comparatively calm because it does not exist, unless it gets a fake prestige throughbeing mistaken for good work. It is essentially negative, it is something that has not come through. But over bad criticism one has a sense of real calamity.