I don't think there's been any writer like Samuel Beckett. He's unique. He was a most charming man and I used to send him my plays.

One is and is not in the centre of the maelstrom of it all.

There are some things one remembers even though they may never have happened.

All that happens is that the destruction of human beings - unless they're Americans - is called collateral damage.

The past is what you remember, imagine you remember, convince yourself you remember, or pretend you remember.

Language in art remains a highly ambiguous transaction, a quicksand, a trampoline, a frozen pool which might give way under you ... at any time.

Good writing excites me, and makes life worth living.

I never think of myself as wise. I think of myself as possessing a critical intelligence which I intend to allow to operate.

Don't forget the earth's about five thousand million years old, at least. Who can afford to live in the past?

This particular nurse said, Cancer cells are those which have forgotten how to die. I was so struck by this statement.

The more acute the experience, the less articulate its expression.

You cannot build a strong team unless you teach your people discipline.

When I die, I want to be cremated with everybody.

... still his philanthropy was of that gunpowderous sort that the difference between it and animosity was hard to determine.

You know very well that unless you're a scientist, it's much more important for a theory to be shapely, than for it to be true.

Standing, as I do, in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone (On the eve of her execution)

Soon comes the cold, and the night that never ends.

In every winter's heart there is a quivering spring, and behind the veil of each night there is a shining dawn.

The world needs leaders of vision instead of leaders on television.

Character is built little by little, over days, weeks, months, and years, with thousands of small and seemingly insignificant acts of discipline.

I'm a hopeless mother; a hopeless wife; I have to try harder. I'm just a pathetic case history, really.