Novelist

The artist must be in his work as God is in creation, invisible and all-powerful; one must sense him everywhere but never see him.

Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough.

A superhuman will is needed in order to write, and I am only a man.

You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies, and the importance of a work of art by the harm that is spoken of it.

Read in order to live.

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.

I am a man-pen. I feel through the pen, because of the pen.

Jangan membaca seperti yang biasa anak kecil lakukan, jangan pula membaca hanya untuk menghibur diri atau ambisi untuk tujuan pengajaran. Tidak, namun membacalah untuk hidup Anda.

Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times.

Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.

Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.

Exuberance is better than taste.

Writing is a dog's life, but the only life worth living.

I have come to have the firm conviction that vanity is the basis of everything, and finally that what one calls conscience is only inner vanity.

I love good sense above all, perhaps because I have none.

Caught up in life, you see it badly. You suffer from it or enjoy it too much. The artist, in my opinion, is a monstrosity, something outside of nature.

Wanita tanpa kepribadian mulia tak ubahnya seperti mawar tanpa aroma wewangian.

The better a work is, the more it attracts criticism; it is like the fleas who rush to jump on white linens.

I love my work with a frenetic and perverse love, as an ascetic loves the hair shirt which scratches his belly.

The deplorable mania of doubt exhausts me. I doubt about everything, even my doubts.