An unbearable reality, combined with the impossibility to change it, tends to lead to abstractions for abstraction's sake, and unreality becomes more realistic than reality itself, more true, more convincing, simply because it looks at you with the eyes of justice.

— Romain Gary

He gave up. He'd been feeling like giving up for a long, long time. I guess it's maturity, they say it always gets you in the end. I don't seem to have any more principles left, so it's got to be maturity... A broken man, I guess that's what you become, the moment you are no longer a kid.

— Romain Gary

Humor is an affirmation of dignity a declaration of man's superiority to all that befalls him.

— Romain Gary

Humor is an affirmation of dignity, a declaration of man's superiority to all that befalls him.

— Romain Gary

-I love you, Lenny.-From the diaphragm.-What are you talking about?-You have to say it from the diaphragm. That's a muscle in here. Real deep, not from the throat. I tried to be an actor once and that's the first thing they told me. That's when I quit. I just didn't have that much in my diaphragm.

— Romain Gary

Reality is not an inspiration for literature. At its best, literature is an inspiration for reality.

— Romain Gary

...the most sacred right of a person is to refuse to be manipulated, handled, cheated, and then kicked in the ass---.

— Romain Gary

-Would you wish us to invest it for you?-No, I would like you to set up a trust for dumb animals.-What kind of dumb animals do you have in mind, Miss Donahue?-Oh, stray dogs. Rats. Birds.-We could still invest it for you. Then the animals would get the income without touching the capital.-No, I don't wish to invest it. I don't want them to get rich. They might become human.

— Romain Gary