“As far as I can see, only psychoanalysis can compete with Christians in their love of drawn-out suffering.”

“With the exception of love, friendship and the beauty of art, I don't see much else that can nurture human life.”

“And I wonder how well I myself can see.”

“When something is bothering me, I seek refuge. No need to travel far; a trip to the realm of literary memory will suffice. For where can one find more noble distraction, more entertaining company, more delightful enchantment than in literature?”

“How can one betray oneself to such a degree? What corruption greater even than power can lead us to thus deny the proof of pleasure, to hold in contempt that which we have loved? ...I could have written about chouquettes my whole life long; and my whole life long, I wrote against them.”

“Because beauty consits of it's own passing, just as we reach for it. It's the ephemeral configuration of things in the moment, when you can see both their movement and their death.”

“I understood that I was suffering because I couldn't make anyone else around me feel better.”