There is no great sport in having bullets flying about one in every direction, but I find they have less horror when among them than when in anticipation.

Books are menaced by books. Any excess of information produces silence.

There is only one thing that arouses animals more than pleasure, and that is pain. Under torture you are as if under the dominion of those grasses that produce visions. Everything you have heard told, everything you have read returns to your mind, as if you were being transported, not toward heaven, but toward hell. Under torture you say not only what the inquisitor wants, but also what you imagine might please him, because a bond (this, truly, diabolical) is established between you and him.

What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible.

What we honor as prudence in our elders is simply panic in action.

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

I'm always fascinated by losers. Also, in my "Foucault's Pendulum," the main characters, who are in a way losers, they are more interesting than the winners.