It's a question of not copying the masters, to look for something, good or bad, for oneself. To enter this liberated state of mind, one cannot copy the others.
Nathalie Sarraute

One can't write without having read - you have to read before beginning to write - and universities offer a very good opportunity to read.
Nathalie Sarraute

The reader has to be creative when he's reading. He has to try to make the thing alive. A good reader has to do a certain amount of work when he is reading.
Nathalie Sarraute

Those who live in a world of human beings can only retrace their steps.
Nathalie Sarraute

I have never sought the reason why I write.
Nathalie Sarraute

It's the duty of all novelists, all painters, all musicians, all people who try to make art move: to look for something they feel authentically, without paying attention to styles.
Nathalie Sarraute

All psychological research is completely barred by the interpretations of the psychoanalysts. Everything happens in the unconscious, and I don't know what this unconscious is.
Nathalie Sarraute

I have often heard that the novel is dead. But I see novels produced, I don't know how many a week, in France. I have the impression it's carrying along quite well.
Nathalie Sarraute