At the beginning, I experienced writing as a sort of constraint. Starting so young as a writer is pitiable: it's beyond your powers; you have to lay bare things that are very heavy, and you don't have the means for… — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
Nice is a city of ghosts and specters, but I hope not to become one of them right away. — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
I write in the most classical French because this form is necessary for my novels: to translate the murky, floating, unsettling atmosphere I wanted… — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
On winning Literature Nobel Prize: I was actually in the street. Yes, I was in the street. It was my daughter who notified me. — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
Encourage aspiring writers to continue writing when things are going against them, when it feels hard. Explain the typical obstacles that occur, and encourage… — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
“For me the autumn has never been a sad season. The dead leaves and the increasingly shorter days have never suggested the end of… — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
Something happens between a novel and its reader which is similar to the process of developing photographs, the way they did it before the… — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
A novelist can never be his own reader, except when he is ridding his manuscript of syntax errors, repetitions, or the occasional superfluous paragraph. — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
For a long time, I've had a recurring dream - I dream I don't have to write any more, that I'm free. I'm not… — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
Really, I prefer not to read my early books. Not that I don't like them, but I don't recognize myself anymore, like an old… — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
I think I became a writer because I didn't know of anything else to do. Maybe some incident from my childhood influenced me. — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
The more things remain obscure and mysterious, the more they interest me. I even try to find mystery in things that have none. — Patrick Modiano Copy Share Image
