“We live for books.”

“When I went from being an academic to being a member of the community of writers some of my former colleagues did look on me with a certain resentment.”

“Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means...”

“National identity is the last bastion of the dispossessed. But the meaning of identity is now based on hatred, on hatred for those who are not the same.”