The thought that all experience will be lost at the moment of my death makes me feel pain and fear... What a waste, decades spent building up experience, only to throw it all away... We remedy this sadness by working. For example, by writing, painting, or building cities.

The function of memory is not only to preserve, but also to throw away. If you remembered everything from your entire life, you would be sick.

You die, but most of what you have accumulated will not be lost; you are leaving a message in a bottle.

I'm a classic example of all humorists - only funny when I'm working.

From shit, thus, I extract pure Shinola

An illiterate person who dies, let us say at my age, has lived one life, whereas I have lived the lives of Napoleon, Caesar, d’Artagnan. So I always encourage young people to read books, because it’s an ideal way to develop a great memory and a ravenous multiple personality. And then at the end of your life you have lived countless lives, which is a fabulous privilege.