" No, writing has not changed me for the better at all; I have merely used up part of my restless, conscienceless youth. What value to me will these discontented pages be? The book, the vow, are worth no more than one is worth oneself. One can never be sure of saving one's soul by writing. One may go writing on and on with a soul already lost. "

― Italo Calvino , Our Ancestors: The Cloven Viscount, The Baron in the Trees, The Non-Existent Knight