“Life ... is a burden. The day about to begin is an oppressive weight.... The erect penis is heavy, even heavier the hanging one. Even the most tender breast has to be dragged along.”

“[F]or me, being a Jew means feeling the tragedy of yesterday as an inner oppression. On my left forearm I bear the Auschwitz number; it reads more briefly than the Pentateuch or the Talmud and yet provides more thorough information. It is also more binding than basic formulas of Jewish existence. If to myself and the world, including the religious and nationally minded Jews, who do not regard me as one of their own, I say: I am a Jew, then I mean by that those realities and possibilities that are summed up in the Auschwitz number.”

“Rien n'arrive ni comme on l'espère, ni comme on le craint', dice Proust en algún pasaje de su obra. Nada, en efecto, sucede como lo esperamos ni como lo tememos.”

“The poem no longer transcended reality.”

“Sometimes life isn't what you think it should be or want it to be. Sometimes life is just life and it goes on even without you. The key is to make the most out of it while you can.”

“Life is a wonderful thing to talk about, or to read about in history books - but it is terrible when one has to live it”

“Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.”