I came into the world under the sign of Saturn -- the star of the slowest revolution, the planet of detours and delays.

In other words, the unique value of the "authentic" work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value. This ritualistic basis, however remote, is still recognizable as secularized ritual even in the most profane forms of the cult of beauty.

The idea that happiness could have a share in beauty would be too much of a good thing.

Work on a good piece of writing proceeds on three levels: a musical one, where it is composed, an architectural one, where it is constructed, and finally a textile one, where it is woven.

Writers are really people who write books not because they are poor, but because they are dissatisfied with the books which they could buy but do not like.

Reminiscences, even extensive ones, do not always amount to an autobiography. For autobiography has to do with time, with sequence and what makes up the continuous flow of life. Here, I am talking of a space, of moments and discontinuities. For even if months and years appear here, it is in the form they have at the moment of commemoration.

Art teaches us to see into things. Folk art and kitsch allow us to see outward from within things.