“The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves. Every other lie is eventually forgiven or forgotten, but self-deception accumulates.”
英语
“我们唯一会受到真正惩罚的谎言，是对自己说的谎言。其他一切谎言终将被原谅或遗忘，但自我欺骗会累积。”
“The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.”
英语
“世界就是这样的；那些一无所有、任由自己变得一无所有的人，在其中没有容身之地。”
“Most people are not really free. They are confined by the niche in the world that they carve out for themselves. They limit themselves to fewer possibilities by the narrowness of their vision.”
英语
“大多数人并不真正自由。他们被困在自己在世界上开辟的小天地里。他们因视野的狭隘而将自己局限于更少的可能性。”
“In a country that is being remade, everyone is a stranger. The only people who can afford to think of the past are those who have the luxury of a stable present.”
英语
“在一个正在被重塑的国家里，每个人都是陌生人。唯一有资格回望过去的，是那些拥有安稳现在这一奢侈的人。”
“It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That is where the mischief starts. That is where everything starts unravelling.”
英语
“对世界抱有理想化的看法是错误的。恶作剧正是从那里开始的。一切正是从那里开始解体的。”
“To see the ordinary, to see what is so common that it has become invisible, needs a stranger's eye. The writer is perpetually that stranger.”
英语
“要看见寻常之物，看见那些因过于普遍而变得不可见的事物，需要一双陌生人的眼睛。作家永远就是那个陌生人。”
“If you come from the New World, every journey is a journey of discovery. The landscape is always new, and you carry within yourself the knowledge that the civilizations you visit are older than your own.”
英语
“如果你来自新世界，每一次旅行都是发现之旅。风景总是新的，而你内心携带着这样的认知：你所拜访的文明比你自己的更为古老。”
“One always writes comedy at the expense of the other fellow. That is the nature of comedy. When you turn the mirror around and write it on yourself, it becomes something else — it becomes anguish.”
英语
“人总是以别人为代价来写喜剧。那是喜剧的本质。当你把镜子转过来对准自己来写时，它就变成了别的东西——变成了痛苦。”