“My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.”

Life on earth is inconceivable without trees.

Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress; when I get tired of one, I spend the night with the other.

Women can’t forgive failure.

The secret of boring people lies in telling them everything.

What a delight it is to respect people!

If you ever have need of my life, come and take it.

It’s very hard, feeling that you’re no more than a piece of unwanted furniture in this world.

This life of ours, human life is like a flower gloriously blooming in a meadow: along comes a goat, eats it up–no more flower.

Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.

Do you see that tree? It is dead but it still sways in the wind with the others. I think it would be like that with me. That if I died I would still be part of life in one way or another.

Write only of what is important and eternal.

If I had listened to the critics I’d have died drunk in the gutter

Only one who loves can remember so well.

There should be more sincerity and heart in human relations, more silence and simplicity in our interactions. Be rude when you’re angry, laugh when something is funny, and answer when you’re asked.

I expect I shall be a student to the end of my days.

Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.

It’s almost as important as Shakespeare’s to be or not to be which deals with death.

He is still my favourite author, and he is the one – I still think – who writes most honestly about human existence.

The books, the authors who matter the most are those who speak to me and speak for me all those things about life I most need to hear as the confession of myself

Anthony Heilbut has been a guide and a mentor to me. I know of no one who has the love and depth of knowledge of this extraordinary author.

Trust in your abilities and you’re the author of your own destiny.

The sower of the seed is assuredly the author of the whole harvest of mischief.

I’m dedicated to bringing to life what the author is trying to portray.

The authors I prefer are all very different and are not limited to certain genres or even certain time periods.