All things are so very uncertain, and that's exactly what makes me feel reassured.

Dogs are mute and obedient, but they have watched us and know us and can smell how pitiful we are.

One makes a trip by day, but by night one sets out on a journey.

It is simply this: do not tire, never lose interest, never grow indifferent—lose your invaluable curiosity and you let yourself die. It's as simple as that.

I'm not sure I would have ever started to draw, let alone write, if my childhood hadn't been so happy. It was a mixture of comfort and adventure. An excellent mixture!

Everyone must imagine his own snakes because no one else's snakes can ever be as awful.

... 'I've been doing everything for an awfully long time, and I've seen and lived as hard as I could, and it's been unbelievable, I tell you, unbelievable. But now I have the feeling everything's gliding away from me, and I don't remember, and I don't care, and yet now is right when I need it!'. [pp. 84-85]