good prose

“Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an architectonic one when it is built, and a textile one when it is woven.”

autobiography, time, space

“Reminiscences, even extensive ones, do not always amount to an autobiography. For autobiography has to do with time, with sequence and what makes up the continuous flow of life. Here, I am talking of a space, of moments and discontinuities. For even if months and years appear here, it is in the form they have in the moment of recollection. This strange form — it may be called fleeting or eternal — is in neither case the stuff that life is made of.”

Strength lies in

“These are days when no one should rely unduly on his competence. Strength lies in improvisation. All the decisive blows are struck left-handed.”

Opinions are a private matter.

“Opinions are a private matter. The public has an interest only in judgments.”

The destructive character lives

“The destructive character lives from the feeling, not that life is worth living, but that suicide is not worth the trouble.”

the collector’s passion

      “Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector’s passion borders on the chaos of memories.”