History is a blood-drenched enigma and the world an error.

My grandfather had a particularly important influence on my life, even though I didn't visit him often, since he lived about three miles out of town and he died when I was six. He was remarkably curious about the world, and he read lots of books.

The good of a book lies in its being read.

I have always been fascinated by paranoid people imagining conspiracies. I am fascinated by this in a critical way.

And so I fell devoutly asleep and slept a long time, because young people seem to need sleep more than the old, who have already slept so much and are preparing to sleep for all eternity.

The question of manuscript changes is very important for literary criticism, the psychology of creation and other aspects of the study of literature.

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