That is a real attitude - to see everything as being meaningful, even the less important things, to prove something, even the greater problems of life.

There are two kinds of friendship: one is genuine affection, the other is inability to refuse.

Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means.

Once you reach your fifties, you have to stop being interested in the present and write only on Elizabethan poets.

I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counterreformist and has been influenced by the methodical path of the Jesuits.... It is catechistic: the essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation. DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. It allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that all can reach salvation.

I don't want to write a novel per year. I know that I need a break of one or two years. So maybe I invent some new, urgent activity so I don't fall into the trap of starting a new novel.

Writing doesn't mean necessarily putting words on a sheet of paper. You can write a chapter while walking or eating.