I keep telling myself I should try very hard to write a novel of about 210 pages... I don't seem to be capable of it, but I keep hoping it will happen.

It was good to walk into a library again; it smelled like home.

The heart does not go backward. Only the mind.

When you handle books all day long, every new one is a friend and a temptation.

It was not the brutality of what occurred next that changed my mind and brought home to me the full meaning of fear. It was the brilliance of it.

The problem is simply finding the right person. Ask Plato. Just make sure she finishes your thoughts and you finish hers. That's all you need.

As you know, human history is full of evil deeds, and maybe we ought to think of them with tears, not fascination.

...History it seemed could be something entirely different a splash of blood whose agony didn't fade overnight or over centuries.

It's funny; in this era of e-mail and voice mail and all those things that even I did not grow up with, a plain old paper letter takes on amazing intimacy.

There is nothing harder, at moments, than talking to someone who has all the power of silence.

...what will we someday do, I always wonder, without the pleasures of turning through books and stumbling on things we never meant to find?

Having a dream, living that dream, losing that dream, dreaming again and then having that dream come true again is one of the greatest feelings ever because I'm stronger.

We learned that very few people care how you accomplish something. Instead, these people care more about whether you create value for your end user.

I am not a British isolationist. I don't just want a better deal for Britain. I want a better deal for Europe too.

It's a weird sensation to be mad and learning at the same time.

Whatever the reasons, when forgiveness happens it is always a miracle of grace. The obstacles in its way are immense

I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn't have said. Called him names I shouldn't have called him. I apologise for that. I'm sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight.

The greatest problem that war leaves, in a man, is how to recapture reality. That's because war is unreal.

Beauty is almost no longer possible if it is not a lie.

My last meal on Earth, I would love it to be a bowl of blueberries with cold cream.

All I will say is that there are particular features of the American constitutional system that renders a third party futile - at best.