I became one of those anonymous Americans who tries to keep his mind sharp and inquisitive while performing all the humiliating rituals of the middle class

But even her demons she invested with inordinate beauty, consecrated them with the dignity of her attention.

He was one of those rare men who are capable of being fully in love only once in their lives.

There are no verdicts to childhood, only consequences, and the bright freight of memory.

These are the quicksilver moments of my childhood I cannot remember entirely. Irresistible and emblematic, I can recall them only in fragments and shivers of the heart.

I lived with the terrible knowledge that one day I would be an old man still waiting for my real life to start. Already, I pitied that old man.

College was to teach me that I was one of life's journeymen, eager to excel but lacking the requisite gifts.

Writing poetry and reading books causes brain damage.

Losing well was a gift, but winning well is this stuff of the authentic manhood.

The desolate narrowness, the definitive thinness of experience is both the vainglory and the dead giveaway of a provincial man.

It would always be my burden, not that I lacked genius, but that I was fully aware of it.

Forgiveness takes intelligence, discipline, imagination, and persistence, as well as a special psychological strength, something athletes call mental toughness and warriors call courage.

Lust and flirting are dangerous because at first they are not noticeable.

As an artist, a man has no home in Europe save in Paris.

It's every teacher's job to be rigorous about constantly being open to new ideas and innovation.

Look, dear! How adorable. When pop music tries its very hardest, it can be almost as good as Sven Hassel.

I have really crooked teeth - they give me character!

The notion of democracy beginning to emerge scares the ideologues, the totalitarians, those who want to impose their vision. It just frightens them.

Football players are misunderstood. They arent the dumb jocks people think they are.

My main form of exercise is my bike. I dont have a car, so I cycle everywhere.

Take by surprise and the world gives up resistance.