Don't forget the earth's about five thousand million years old, at least. Who can afford to live in the past?

One is and is not in the centre of the maelstrom of it all.

There are some things one remembers even though they may never have happened.

All that happens is that the destruction of human beings - unless they're Americans - is called collateral damage.

The past is what you remember, imagine you remember, convince yourself you remember, or pretend you remember.

Language in art remains a highly ambiguous transaction, a quicksand, a trampoline, a frozen pool which might give way under you ... at any time.

Good writing excites me, and makes life worth living.

I don't think there's been any writer like Samuel Beckett. He's unique. He was a most charming man and I used to send him my plays.

I never think of myself as wise. I think of myself as possessing a critical intelligence which I intend to allow to operate.

This particular nurse said, Cancer cells are those which have forgotten how to die. I was so struck by this statement.

The more acute the experience, the less articulate its expression.

Energy is liberated matter, matter is energy waiting to happen.

No matter what, don't live a life where you're too scared to die for what you believe in. Always go at it with everything you've got, even if it doesn't seem to be enough.

...we need to bear in mind that our opinion of other people, our ties with friends or family, have only the semblance of fixity and are, in fact, as eternally fluid as the sea.

I've purged myself of bitterness and anger and remained open to love.

repose, v.i. To cease from troubling.

When I write I simply follow my heart. And my flights of fantasy. It is not done with a conscious effort. I'm continually inspired and write reflexively.

There is enough Christianity in our country's history to make it a significant component of our heritage and identity.

It's easier and sociabler to talk technique than it is to make art.

The past is the one thing we are not prisoners of. We can do with the past exactly what we wish. What we can't do is to change its consequences.

Never be comfortable.... .with just good enough.