“Savez-vous que c'est cause de cette recherche de ce que j'appellerais les compensations, cette rechercher d'un bonheur malgr tout, que naissent les manies et, souvent, les dsquilibres.”

“Sunday lay so heavily in the air as to become almost nauseating. Maigret used to claim openly, half seriously, half in fun, that he had always had the knack of sensing a Sunday from his bed, withou...”

“At five-thirty the rain began to fall in great, heavy drops which bounced off the pavement before they spread out into black spots. At the same time thunder rumbled from the direction of Charenton ...”

“The fact that we are I don't know how many millions of people, yet communication, complete communication, is completely impossible between two of those people, is to me one of the biggest tragic th...”

“The lake and the mountains have become my landscape, my real world.”

“Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.”

“A word out of place or an interesting choice of vocabulary can spawn a whole character.”

“Sometimes I create a character from a scrap - a mere mention that has been left behind.”

“It was not her way to make a conspicuous entry into anyones life, but towards the end of that week Sebastian said rather sourly: You and mummy seem very thick, and I realized that in fact I was bei...”

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

“All Earthquakes and Disasters are warnings theres too much corruption in the world ”

“Its only when youre at the bottom of the ladder that you ascend.”

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”