I don't believe in myths of decline or myths of progress, even as regards the literary scene.

Everyone wants a prodigy to fail; it makes our mediocrity more bearable.

The most beautiful prose paragraph yet written by any American.

We read, frequently if not unknowingly, in search of a mind more original than our own.

I realized early on that the academy and the literary world alike

It is hard to go on living without some hope of encountering the extraordinary.

Shakespeare is the true multicultural author. He exists in all languages. He is put on the stage everywhere. Everyone feels that they are represented by him on the stage.

At our present bad moment, we need above all to recover our sense of literary individuality and of poetic autonomy.

Read deeply, not to believe, not to accept, not to contradict, but to learn to share in that one nature that writes and reads.

Reading well is one of the greatest pleasures that solitude can afford you.

The art and passion of reading well and deeply is waning, but [Jane] Austen still inspires people to become fanatical readers.

It turned out that capitalism alone could make people not only rich and happy but also poor, hungry, miserable, and powerless.

I would far rather have two or three lilies of the valley gathered for me by a person I like, than the most expensive bouquet that could be bought!

I think the fact is that anybody who goes into politics feels like 'I can make a difference'. But it's not one person, you need so many others.

I love performing in a good straight play as well and I'm a crossover actor, I crossover from plays to musicals, musicals to plays. This is very difficult for performers.

Nature's great book is written in mathematics.

...in some situations winning consist[s] of disentangling oneself.

It still surprises me when I find something in any North Carolina newspaper that isn't mad at me about something.

The more you wish to be, the wiser you are; while the wish to have is apt to be foolish in proportion to its largeness.

Doing research in mathematics is frustrating and if being frustrated is something you cannot get used to, then mathematics may not be an ideal occupation for you.

There cannot be any great happiness in the married life except each in turn give up his or her own humors and lesser inclinations.