I had no idea how to respond, and opted for a smile, which serves me well on most occasions (not if it's something to do with death or illness, though -- I know that now.)

My eye was drawn to a bright green hue, the same shade as a poisonous Amazonian frog, the tiny, delightfully deadly ones.

You can't have too much dog in a book.

I took one of my hands in the other, tried to imagine what it would feel like if it was another person's hand holding mine. There have been times where I felt that I might die of loneliness.

When the silence and the aloneness press down and around me, crushing me, carving through me like ice, I need to speak aloud sometimes, if only for proof of life.

In the end, what matters is this: I survived.

in principle and reality, libraries are life-enhancing palaces of wonder

Anyone who's read all of Proust plus The Man withour Qualities is bound t be missing out on a few other titles.

Most people have an abundance of dreams, but lack the courage to follow them. Help them find that courage by inspiring them with yours.

I think it's really the job of the composer, the artist, the painter, the writer to present people with options. I'm just really reflecting the thoughts and actions around me.

That was the big effect Lord of the Rings had on me. It was discovering New Zealand. And even more precious were the people- not at all like the Australians.

Saddam Hussein's soldiers and his great forces gave the Americans a lesson which will not be forgotten by history. Truly.

Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.

Like the wind that carries one ship east and another west, the law of autosuggestion will lift you up or pull you down according to the way that you set your sails of thought.

However much we hate the law, we are more afraid of grace

At my age, turning gray is kind of a blessing, where it softens all of the other horrible things it does to you, but it is what it is.