I actually believe that a lot of what people call originality has to do with persistence in the craft.

I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character in half, on his birthday. And then it starts raining. And he's made of sugar.

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.

Developing our sympathetic compassion is not only possible but the only reason for us to be here on earth.

According to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving. Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now.

It's a big world, and I really like it.

Character is that sum total of moments we can't explain.

The generalizing writer is like the passionate drunk, stumbling into your house mumbling: I know I'm not being clear, exactly, but don't you kind of feel what I'm feeling?

Kindness, it turns out, is hard - it starts out all rainbows and puppy dogs, and expands to include . . . well, EVERYTHING.

He wanted the show to be fresh to audiences 50 years down the line.

Well, I write a lot of poetry - that's where it usually all starts. I definitely want to show you guys sides of me - love, loss, heartbreak - all of that good stuff!

We should read other people's books in order to learn what we feel; it is our own thoughts we should be developing, even if it is another writer's thought that help us to do so.

Fashion never stops. There is always the new project, the new opportunity.

I want to ride my motorcycle up the side of the Luxor to the light and vanish.

I am very happy to be signing for the best team in the world and especially proud to be the first Portuguese player to join Manchester United.

Dogs, dogs, go away, let me live another day.

Suffering is a call to conversion: it reminds us of our frailty and vulnerability.

The more you practice zazen, the more you will be able to accept something as your own, whatever it is.

There's a mass of places, really, where the idea started.