“What you call types of mind are only mental ages.”

“I have loved to the point of madness; that which is called madness, that which to me, is the only sensible way to love.”

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

“Every little girl knows about love. It is only her capacity to suffer from it that increases.”

“My love of pleasure seems to be the only consistent side of my character. Is it because I have not read enough?”

“I was thinking that I should be content to kiss him until the break of day. Bertrand ran out of kisses too soon; desire made them superfluous in his eyes. They were only a stage on the road to pleasure, not something inexhaustible and self-sufficient, as Luc had revealed them to me.”

“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.”