“To write requires passionate love of someone or something - even if it is merely self.”

“Falling in love is something that happens to us, being is love is something we do. No passion is self preservatory.”

“Love is not an idea, not a feeling, not a sensation, not a sentiment, not a passion, not even an emotion. It is becoming and being not... Ultimate nothingness! Complete self-annihilation!”

“A writer needs to ingest love to be passionate. Passion is a metabolite of love, and good writing is an active metabolite of passion.”

“He had discovered that the choice between self-love or love of something other than self offers no escape from suffering either way, it is merely a choice between two woundings, of the pride or of the heart.”

“I'm not tempted by things I've decided are off-limits, but once I've started something, I have trouble stopping. If I never do something, it requires no self-control for me; if I do something sometimes, it requires enormous self-control.”