For me, a novel is always the result of my attempt to impose myself on raw circumstances. It is a concrete form of lived experience.

Hope is like one of those orchids that grows around toxic waste: lovely in itself - and an assertion, if you like, of indefatigable good - but a sure sign that something nasty lies underneath.

As writers go, I have a skin of average thickness. I am pleased by a good review, disappointed by a bad. None of it penetrates far enough to influence the thing I write next.

That's writing for you: when you make space for passion, it doesn't turn up.

How can there be so many mothers in the world but so little sense of what it might be to become one?

The creativity of childhood was often surrendered amid feelings of unworthiness. So the idea that ­others are demanding to be given it back - to be "taught" - is disturbing.

Childhood, after all, is not an ending, but rather a state full of potent curiosity.

Even if they knew the truth of their own feelings, most mothers would be socially and emotionally incapable of revealing it.

Honest criticism, I suppose, has its place. But honest writing is infinitely more valuable.

Hope is one of those no-win-no-fee things, and although it needs some encouragement to survive, its existence doesn't necessarily prove anything.

People are least aware of others when demonstrating their own power over them.

Nothing is born into this world without labor.

No matter what the delusions are, parents do not really know their children

Sin has tarnished every area of life, and [Christ] wants to erase its stain everywhere.

The film [Boy and the World]gave me the possibility to create a new language. Animation is a very rich medium but hasn't fully been exploited by artists. Often artists are trapped by words.

There are so many things I've done that the world of boxing has witnessed. It's going to be difficult for the boxing people to pick one of my performances as the best.

Why would you want to invest with a guy whose thought process says, "If a second layer of fees is good, then let's add a third layer.

I'm a huge Kevin Youkilis fan.

You know what I've kind of come to realize is that I'm a huge Drew Barrymore rom-com fan. There are so many of her movies that I love.

Good times are always where I am. I feel bored if I'm not there.

In many countries there are particular places to which devils more especially resort. In Prussia there is an infinite number of evil spirits.