In any case, it seems to me that all over the world people nowadays prefer to judge rather than to understand, to answer rather than to ask, so that the voice of the novel can hardly be heard over the noisy foolishness of human certainties.

The longing for Paradise is man's longing not to be man.

Not only have people stopped trying to be attractive when they are out among other people, but they are no longer even trying not to look ugly!

Not only have people stopped trying to be
attractive when they are out among other people, but they are no longer even
trying not to look ugly!

All great novels, all true novels, are bisexual.

The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything....The novelist teaches the reader to comprehend the world as a question. There is wisdom and tolerance in that attitude. In a world built on sacrosanct certainties the novel is dead. The totalitarian world, whether founded on Marx, Islam, or anything else, is a world of answers rather than questions. There, the novel has no place.