It's beginnings that are hard. I always begin with a great sense of dread and trepidation. Nietzsche says that the decision to start writing is like leaping into a cold lake.

A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing.

the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.

Al forms of consensus about ''great'' books and ''perennial'' problems, once stabilized, tend to deteriorate eventually into something philistine. The real life of the mind is always at the frontiers of ''what is already known.'' Those great books don't only need custodians and transmitters. To stay alive, they also need adversaries. The most interesting ideas are heresies.

Everything should be understood, and anything can be transformed - that is the modern view.

My idea of a writer: someone interested in everything.

What makes me feel strong? Being in love and work. I must work.