“I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live.”

“For what are we looking for if not to please? I do not know if the desire to attract others comes from a superabundance of vitality, possessiveness, or the hidden, unspoken need to be reassured.”

“The one thing I regret is that I will never have time to read all the books I want to read.”

“I did not find him absurd. I saw he was kind, that he was on the verge of real love. I thought it would be nice for me to be in love with him, too.”

“I found myself both touched and irritated by the discovery that she was vulnerable.”

“A Strange melancholy pervades me to which I hesitate to give the grave and beautiful name of sorrow. The idea of sorrow has always appealed to me but now I am almost ashamed of its complete egoism. I have known boredom, regret, and occasionally remorse, but never sorrow. Today it envelops me like a silken web, enervating and soft, and sets me apart from everybody else.”

“The questions I would have liked to ask people were: ‘Are you in love? What are you reading?”