“Sometimes we think people are like lottery tickets, that they're there to make our most absurd dreams come true.”

“Destiny is usually just around the corner. Like a thief, a hooker, or a lottery vendor: its three most common personifications. But what destiny does not do is home visits. You have to go for it.”

“. . .sometimes one feels freer speaking to a stranger than to people one knows. Why is that?"“Probably because a stranger sees us the way we are, not as he wishes to think we are.”

“Normal people bring children into the world; we novelists bring books. We are condemned to put our whole lives into them, even though they hardly ever thank us for it. We are condemned to die in their pages and sometimes even to let our books be the ones who, in the end, will take our lives.”

“The business of courtship is like a tango: absurd and pure embellishment.”

“We spend a good part of our lives dreaming, especially when we're awake.”

“I think you judge yourself too severely, a quality that always distinguishes people of true worth.”