I had no books at home. I started to frequent a public library in Lisbon. It was there, with no help except curiosity and the will to learn, that my taste for reading developed and was refined.

The world is governed by institutions that are not democratic - the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO.

I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see.

People live with the illusion that we have a democratic system, but it's only the outward form of one. In reality we live in a plutocracy, a government of the rich.

The novel is not so much a literary genre, but a literary space, like a sea that is filled by many rivers.

The U.S. needs to control the Middle East, the gateway to Asia. It already has military installations in Uzbekistan.

Words that come from the heart are never spoken, they get caught in the throat and can only be read in ones's eyes.

A journey never ends. Only the travellers end.

What kind of world is this that can send machines to Mars and does nothing to stop the killing of a human being?

We use words to understand each other and even, sometimes, to find each other.

No human being can achieve all he or she desires in this life except in dreams, so good night all.

A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective.

My achievements in the field of chess are the result of immense hard work in studying theory.

[Science is] an imaginative adventure of the mind seeking truth in a world of mystery.

All victims have experienced a loss-a thwarted desire or aspiration-even if they're not aware of it.

Happiness hides in life’s small details. If you’re not looking, it becomes invisible.

The close-up says everything.

All I ever wanted to do was play the drums; I felt good about myself when I played the drums. So I worked anywhere and everywhere I could lug my drums in.

As Israel becomes like South Africa, it's increasingly becoming a pariah state, being excluded from culture at large.

If you're driving more than 50 mph through a neighborhood where the speed limit is 25 mph, I question whether you should keep your driver's license. You're a menace to society.

He's carrying his left leg, which, to be honest, is his only leg.