God must not engage in theology. The writer must not destroy by human reasonings the faith that art requires of us.

So plant your own gardens and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.

Don't talk unless you can improve the silence.

I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited.

I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.

The worst labyrinth is not that intricate form that can entrap us forever, but a single and precise straight line

The fact is that poetry is not the books in the library . . . Poetry is the encounter of the reader with the book, the discovery of the book.

Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone.

I can give you my loneliness, my darkness, the hunger of my heart, I am trying to bribe you with uncertainty, with danger, with defeat.

The original is unfaithful to the translation.

The beauty of a loving smile has a timeless freshness.

When superstitions infect you, it controls your mind.

One man with courage is a majority.

Ensuring a bright future for all our children is the responsibility of the community, the schools, families and like it or not- politicians as well.

I think sometimes there are negative connotations for those who have a business mind as well as a creative side.

Never, ever forget that you are a servant.

Stalin didn't write any memoirs. He was too secretive. He was afraid people might read them.

Money nowadays is money; money brings office; money gains friends; everywhere the poor man is down. [Lat., In pretio pretium nunc est; dat census honores, Census amicitias; pauper ubique jacet.]

A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many.