I never overcame my conviction that writing for commercial television was a kind of prostitution.

Standing there, staring at the long shelves crammed with books, I felt myself relax and was suddenly at peace.

I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages someone long gone has called my attention to.

If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much.

Why is it that people who wouldn't dream of stealing anything else think it's perfectly all right to steal books?

And for at least that moment, I wouldn't have traded the hundreds of books I've read for the few I know almost by heart.

I wanted to see London the way old people want to see home before they die.

History, as they say, is alive and well and living in London.

Talent is the infinite capacity for taking pains. Genius is the infinite capacity for achievement without taking any pains at all.

Hollywood isn't a place, it's a way of life.

It's against my principles to buy a book I haven't read, it's like buying a dress you haven't tried on.

To remember a man’s name is to give him eternal life

The definition of Ar-Rahman: The fact that we only take from Allah and He only gives

The earth was once molten rock and now sings operas.

Most British statesmen have either drunk too much or womanised too much. I never fell into the second category.

The way I see things, the way I see life, I see it as a struggle. And there's a great deal of reward I have gained coming to that understanding - that existence is a struggle.

Miles, as in 'to go before I sleep'?

Mystification is the psychiatrist's defense against the danger of being found out.

Lots of narcissistic people have helped lots of other people with their music. That's such a narcissistic thing to say! Ha ha!

I don't want to be in a position where I'm playing roles I'm comfortable with and making money, but doing it without feeling like I'm growing.

by making himself a priest made himself a demon.