Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector's passion borders on the chaos of memories.

As Hegel put it, only when it is dark does the owl of Minerva begin its flight. Only in extinction is the collector comprehend.

There was the pedestrian who wedged himself into the crowd, but there was also the flneur who demanded elbow room and was unwilling to forego the life of the gentleman of leisure. His leisurely appearance as a personality is his protest against the division of labour which makes people into specialists. it was also his protest against their industriousness. Around 1840 it was briefly fashionable to take turtles for a walk in the arcades. the flneurs liked to have the turtles set the pace for them.

Like ultraviolet rays memory shows to each man in the book of life a script that invisibly and prophetically glosses the text.

Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the leaves drives him away.

Our image of happiness is indissolubly bound up with the image of the past.

If sleep is the apogee of physical relaxation, boredom is the apogee of mental relaxation. Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience.