“I longed to be forgotten in order to be able to complain to myself.”

“For instance, I never complained that my birthday was overlooked; people were even surprised, with a touch of admiration, by my discretion on this subject. But the reason for my disinterestedness was even more discreet: I longed to be forgotten in order to be able to complain to myself... Once my solitude was thoroughly proved, I could surrender to the charms of a virile self-pity.”

“Had I forgotten how to cry? Was that possible? In order to survive, I had long since buried my emotions.”

“If ordinary people complain that I speak too much of myself, I complain that they do not even think of themselves.”

“Esther, however, was the only woman who understood one very simple thing: in order to be able to find her, I first had to find myself.”

“In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.”