To contradict, even in little matters, is the supreme necessity of art today.

Any artist who respects himself ought to be, and in every sense of the term, an emigre.

Great! I've written something stupid, but I haven't signed a contract with anyone to produce solely wise and perfect works. I gave vent to my stupidity...and here I am, reborn.

Beauty beheld in solitude is even more lethal.

I became bold because I had absolutely nothing to lose: neither honors, nor earnings, nor friends. I had to find myself anew and rely only on myself, because I could rely on no one else. My form is my solitude.

The difference between western and eastern intellectuals is that the former have not been kicked in the ass enough.

Serious literature does not exist to make life easy but to complicate it.