Every image of the past that is not recognised by the present as one of its own threatens to disappear irretrievably.

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

The more circumspectly you delay writing down an idea, the more maturely developed it will be on surrendering itself.

Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method.

To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright.

Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an architectonic one when it is built, and a textile one when it is woven.

The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope.

Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the stroller of his conviction.

There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.

The concept of progress must be grounded in the idea of catastrophe. That things are 'status quo' is the catastrophe

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

In order to succeed, we must first dream. Then we must believe in that dream and take action.

The sacred bequestOf times long spent with your heartThat saturate and illuminate you nowSo piercingly…

From the day I began traveling, I understood that truths were lies and lies were truths.

she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of paradise

Movies, obviously, are a little more lucrative. The initial paycheck is better.

Never assume the other fellow will not do something you wouldn't do.

To write books is to have a certain relation with original sin. For what is a book if not a loss of innocence, an act of aggression, a repetition of our Fall?

Pleasant is the recollection of dangers past.

Fortunately poorer countries, such as China, are showing leadership and beginning to demonstrate to the world how to invest in low-carbon growth.

Try another way of looking. Try you looking and the whole universe seeing.