Look at this tangle of thorns.

Life is a message scribbled in the dark.

The clumsiest literal translation is a thousand times more useful than the prettiest paraphrase.

A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual, and only the individual reader is important to me. I don't give a damn for the group, the community, the masses, and so forth.

In reading, one should notice and fondle details.

Imagination, the supreme delight of the immortal and the immature, should be limited. In order to enjoy life, we should not enjoy it too much.

Was she really beautiful? Was she at least what they call attractive? She was exasperation, she was torture.