I think best with a pencil in my hand.

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.

It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.

By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class.

The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea.

Men kick friendship around like a football, but it doesn't seem to crack. Women treat it like glass and it goes to pieces.

I feel we are all islands - in a common sea.

A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one's husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it.

My passport photo is one of the most remarkable photographs I have ever seen- no retouching, no shadows, no flattery-just stark me.

When I cannot write a poem, I bake biscuits and feel just as pleased.

Don't wish me happiness - I don't expect to be happy it's gotten beyond that, somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor - I will need them all.

He suffered much, but he understood the mystery of pain: he knew that tears make all things shine.

State what you want, and go for it, don't refuse yourself a request you did not make.

Power comes with a price. It's a burden. It demands sacrifice.

We don't do it for the money... we do it for the music.

When I see Facebook, I feel like Howlin' Wolf must have felt when he first heard Elvis. 'They finally taught a white boy to do this.'

I do not see the E.E.C. [European Economic Community] as a great love affair. It's more like nine middle aged couples with failing marriages meeting at a Brussels hotel for a group grope.

The only deadline is the one I give myself.

I don't come from a family of slackers, but I do come from a family of doers.

Music was born of love. Had there never been any human affection, there never could have been uttered a strain of music.

I think it's very, very hard not to go slightly crazy if you're in the top in politics, especially if you're there for a long time.