"I was going to tell you something very important. But it is so important I'd rather not say it. Only that which is not said is sincere... Only silence is sincere. The silence of someone who is sleeping, for example. How sincere is a sleeper! Sincere as a flower... It is in sleeping that everyone reveals themselves, because of the silence."

“writers without books, poets without verses, painters without pictures p198”

“The other passengers gazed at each other and there was established that silent solidarity of those who secretly hope to God that the plane will not fall. p264”

“Gide says the hell of this life is that between a hundred paths we have to choose only one, and live wih nostalgia for the other ninety nine. p51”

“Everything one sees is merely a projection of what one does not see, its true nature and substance. p315”

“the circle of politicians which surrounded him--flatterers, eventual profiteers, chaged ideas and convictions like changing a shirt, followed the expediency of the moment. p245”

“Dante would not have forgotten: they say that when Dante was a boy, he was asked: Dante what is the best food? to test his memory. Eggs, replied Dante. Years later, when Dante was a grown man, he was asked only: how? and Dante replied: fried. p30”