“Without literature, life is hell.”

“Seen clearly, life without hope is hell, but Hell without fear is a fairground attraction.”

“Dualism... Without it there can hardly be good literature. With it, there most certainly can be no good life.”

“There is a certain dignity in going through life without the promise of Heaven or the threat of Hell.”

“Literature is that which he can not read without pain, without choking on truth.”

“To write is to forget. Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life. Music soothes, the visual arts exhilarates, the performing arts (such as acting and dance) entertain. Literature, however, retreats from life by turning in into slumber. The other arts make no such retreat— some because they use visible and hence vital formulas, others because they live from human life itself. This isn't the case with literature. Literature simulates life. A novel is a story of what never was, a play is a novel without narration. A poem is the expression of ideas or feelings a language no one uses, because no one talks in verse.”