The idea came to me that I was am and will be but perhaps will not become. This did not scare me. There was for me in being an intensity I did not feel in becoming.

I had learnt to seek intensity — more of life, a concentrated sense of life.

How surprisingly alive false ideas are! They even have their own evolution. At first they are highfalutin' 'truths,' then humdrum 'laws,' and finally superstitions.

Pearls ... have a way of dying when separated from their owner.

For many years I used the pronoun 'we.' Now, as in my youth, I go to sleep and wake up alone.

Paris is not a city, it is the image, the symbol of France, its today and yesterday, the reflection of its history, its geography and its hidden essence.

The idea came to me that I was, am, and will be, but perhaps will not become. This did not scare me. There was for me in being an intensity I did not feel in becoming.

Doesn't the theory of relativity concern literature too? In our world there is no longer any room for the privileged observer, as there is none for the observer of the universe - we are all within.

The past is good (as we all know), twenty, thirty years back everything was good, anyone can tell you that.

A great ship asks deep water.

Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power.

I like to hike and cook. I enjoy furniture and design - not making it, just looking at it. I'm always kind of trying to spread my interests around and try new things.

I like to make them squirm.

Believe me, folks, I've been saying it for a long time. The system, the whole system is rigged.

I look at the dancers and I get the inspiration for the work from them.

The short-term international capital market is shrunken and erratic, and cannot be relied upon to cushion the effects of tendencies to disequilibrium in the balance of payments.

I just think it's silly to be stingy with compliments. If you see someone and they strike you as beautiful in any way, why not let them know?

The French have never produced a great philosopher. Great wine maybe, but no great philosophers.

Great anger and violence can never build a nation.