A writer or painter cannot change the world. But they can keep an essential margin of nonconformity alive.

God and Country are an unbeatable team; they break all records for oppression and bloodshed.

The decline of the aperitif may well be one of the most depressing phenomena of our time.

If you were to ask me if I'd ever had the bad luck to miss my daily cocktail, I'd have to say that I doubt it; where certain things are concerned, I plan ahead.

Mystery is the essential element of every work of art.

The Cinema seems to have been invented to express the life of the subconscious, the roots of which penetrate poetry so deeply

I would give my life for a man who is looking for the truth. But I would gladly kill a man who thinks that he has found the truth.

Thank God I'm an atheist.

I can't help feeling that there is no beauty without hope, struggle, and conquest.

Thank God, I am still an atheist.

If someone were to tell me I had twenty years left, and ask me how I'd like to spend them, I'd reply 'Give me two hours a day of activity, and I'll take the other twenty-two in dreams.'

To find out how much we can do or how far we can go, we have to challenge ourselves constantly.

As I acknowledge the boundaries within myself, I am given plenty of opportunities to reinforce them.

Pursue what catches your heart rather than what catches your eyes.

If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated suffering.

As three laws were good enough for Newton, I have modestly decided to stop there.

I like chords that are very lush with all the lush parts taken out.

The drive for progress doesn't wait for the external world to say "It's time to change."

God of wilderness, God of wildness, lead me to the quiet places of my soul. In stillness, in openness, may I find my strength.

Bad restaurants find unique ways to be bad. Good ones are good in the same way: good food, nice staff, a pleasant room. The human capacity for finding unique ways to screw things up always amazes me.

Political debate is political debate and that's fine. That's healthy.