But even if we were to disappear, people would still be divided into people and Others. No matter how those Others were different.People can't get by without Others. Put two people on an uninhabited island, and you'll have a human being and an Other. And the difference is that an Other is always tormented by his differentness. It's easier for people. They know they're people, and that's what they ought to be. And they all have no choice but to be that way. All of them, forever.

A writer who wants to be translated and published abroad faces a very difficult challenge: first of all, he must make sure that his book is cosmopolitan in the best sense of the word, that it is interesting to a global audience. Nobody is going to read about problems that they don’t care about.

I am fat, lazy and kind.

One day you will hear the sound of time rustling as it slips through your fingers like sand. Remember me then. I wish you luck.

Nobody can be forced to commit an act of villainy. You can't push anybody into the mud; people always step into it themselves.

If age teaches you anything, then one of its lessons is certainly not to hurry if you're already late.

You're a big boy, you ought to understand that punctual transport, public order and safe streets, polite people and good medical services are all the achievements of dictatorship.