But now I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.

When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything.

If you interact with things in your life, everything is constantly changing. And if nothing changes, you're an idiot.

I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.

Absence is to love as wind is to fire: it extinguishes the little flame, it fans the big.

There are four types: the cretin, the imbecile, the stupid and the mad. Normality is a balanced mixture of all four.

I love the smell of book ink in the morning.

To survive, you must tell stories.

But Italy is not an intellectual country. On the subway in Tokyo everybody reads. In Italy, they don't. Don't evaluate Italy from the fact that it produced Raphael and Michelangelo.

Poetry is not a matter of feelings, it is a matter of language. It is language which creates feelings.

We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.

I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflectionsOr the beauty of innuendosThe blackbird whistlingOr just after.

There is no sin in the realm of taste.

By doing ordinary actions efficiently you will become the best among ordinary, but you will not be an extraordinary.

But my passion is racing cars. It's what I like to do in my off time.

Behold a candle, how it gives its light. It weeps its life away drop by drop in order to give forth its flame of light.

I'm not into cold weather, I like warm weather.

Men will not always die quietly.

People think women directors are tough. Truth is, I'm a pussycat and I hate conflict. I just want everyone to be happy on set.

Ultimately, the goal of personal Bible study is a transformed life and a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.

My eyes are wide open to the conflicts within the Church, but I don't think you can call it schism.