“I have learnt how to live…how to be in the world and of the world, and not just to stand aside and watch.”

“Set your mind on a definite goal and observe how quickly the world stands aside to let you pass.”

“Slowly I learnt the ways of humans: how to ruin, how to hate, how to debase, how to humiliate. And at the feet of my Master I learnt the highest of human skills, the skill no other creature owns: I finally learnt how to lie.”

“One thing I've learnt recently: how to think nothing. Here's the trick: don't have any interest in the world around you, don't have any hope for the future, and be warm.”

“Amid a world of noisy, shallow actors it is noble to stand aside and say, 'I will simply be.”

“I don't like work like that. I am the silent partner. I work through events, I live on the sidelines, I dabble in causes and effects, I watch how the misbegotten creatures of this world live their lives.”