" I need to feel strongly, to love and to admire, just as despratly as I need to breathe.
A letter from a friend, a balthus painting on a postcard, a page of Saint-Simon, give meaning to the passing hours. But to keep my mind sharp, to avoid slumping into resigned indifference, I maintain a level of resentment and anger, neither too much nor too little, just as a pressure-cooker has a safety-valve to keep it from exploding ".

jean-Dominique Bauby.