A human being lives out not only his personal life as an individual, but also, consciously or subconsciously, the lives of his epoch and his contempo… - Thomas Mann

Two principles, according to the Settembrinian cosmogony, were in perpetual conflict for possession of the world: force and justice, tyranny and freedom, superstition and knowledge; the law of permanence and the law of change, of ceaseless fermentation issuing in progress.

It is as well that the world knows only a fine piece of work and not also its origins, the conditions under which it came into being; for knowledge of the sources of an artist's inspiration would often confuse readers and shock them, and the excellence of the writing would be of no avail.

Like any lover, he desired to please; suffered agonies at the thought of failure.