Literature is like phosphorus: it shines with its maximum brilliance and the moment when it attempts to die.

Those who fail to reread are obliged to read the same story everywhere.

There are two kinds of liberalism. A liberalism which is always, subterraneously authoritative and paternalistic, on the side of one's good conscience. And then there is a liberalism which is more ethical than political; one would have to find another name for this. Something like a profound suspension of judgment.

Frontiers are physical as well as symbolic constructions

I encounter millions of bodies in my life; of these millions, I may desire some hundreds; but of these hundreds, I love only one.

In an initial period, Photography, in order to surprise, photographs the notable; but soon, by a familiar reversal, it decrees notable whatever it photographs. The 'anything whatever' then becomes the sophisticated acme of value.

Every photograph is a certificate of presence.