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Books aren’t made in the way that babies are: they are made like pyramids, There’s some long-pondered plan, and then great blocks of stone are placed ...more

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The artist must manage to make posterity believe that he never existed.

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The artist, to my way of thinking, is a monstrosity, something outside nature.

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The public wants work which flatters its illusions.

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If you participate in life, you don’t see it clearly: you suffer from it too much or enjoy it too much. The artist, to my way of thinking, is a monstr...more

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I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within.

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In my view, the novelist has no right to express his opinions on the things of this world. In creating, he must imitate God: do his job and then shut ...more

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You don’t make art out of good intentions.

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Sometimes I don’t understand why my arms don’t drop from my body with fatigue, why my brain doesn’t melt away. I am leading an austere life, stripped ...more

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I am an obscure and patient pearl-fisherman who dives into the deepest waters and comes up with empty hands and a blue face. Some fatal attraction dra...more

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The writer must wade into life as into the sea, but only up to the navel.

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Alas! It seems to me that when one is as good as this at dissecting children who are to born, one can’t stiffen up enough to create them.