The librarian's mission should be, not like up to now, a mere handling of the book as an object, but rather a know how (mise au point) of the book as a vital function.

Rancor is an outpouring of a feeling of inferiority.

We need to study the whole of history, not to fall back into it, but to see if we can escape from it.

The type of human being we prefer reveals the contours of our heart.

Effort is only effort when it begins to hurt.

Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.

Life is a series of collisions with the future.

I am I plus my surroundings; and if I do not preserve the latter, I do not preserve myself.

An 'unemployed' existence is a worse negation of life than death itself.

To wonder is to begin to understand.

We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself.

I really feel very strongly that the person who runs for office is the courageous one, and the one who everybody has to know.

Architects need to restore and protect.

If you consider yourself a part of the culture, then finances can't allow you to be bigger than the actual art form.

We're going to have to look very seriously at what we're doing right or wrong because we just keep losing.

The Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God.

I worked at a McDonald's drive-through. I could always tell when girls were interested: They'd drive around again and say, "I forgot something."

Readers are paramount. I live to write books for them.

Pity is a corroding thing.

The critic who justly admires all kinds of things simultaneously cannot love any one of them.

Every job requires a certain riding of a horse.