Between the wolf in the tall grass and the wolf in the tall story there is a shimmering go-between. That go-between, that prism, is the art of literature.

She would try to relieve the pain of love by first roughly rubbing her dry lips against mine; then my darling would draw away with a nervous toss of her hair, and then again come darkly near and let me feed on her open mouth, while with a generosity that was ready to offer her everything, my heart, my throat, my entrails, I gave her to hold in her awkward first the scepter of my passion.

Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.

Literature is invention. Fiction is fiction. To call a story a true story is an insult to both art and truth.

Don't cry, I'm sorry to have deceived you so much, but that's how life is.

a person hoping to become a poet must have the capacity of thinking of several things at a time.

My mind speaks English, my heart speaks Russian, and my ear prefers French.