I think it's very interesting that [doctors] privilege the self that is saying, "I don't want to die," but want to discount the self that said, "I want to allow natural death in such a situation."

To do more, is not necessarily to do better.

I don't think people ever were free of fear of death, but clinging to life and being so unprepared for it is a modern experience.

Three-quarters of people say they want to die at home, but only a quarter of people actually do.

Attempting to grapple with improving end-of-life care is a political third rail.

Almost anyone you talk to will say, 'I don't want to die plugged into machines.

I've heard doctors say that before the crisis hits, people don't want prolonged measures, but then in the middle of the crisis they want everything.

I want to break the taboo against questioning this drive for maximum longevity.

Very few of us are succeeding in giving our parents the ideal death.

I want people to suffer less, and I think it's possible.

If you look at it, life is like one big series of lessons, that starts the moment we are born.

Maybe we are the wealthiest people around the world

One of the oddest things about being grown-up was looking back at something you thought you knew and finding out the truth of it was completely different from what you had always believed.

The war on drugs thrives on ignorance of drugs and misplaced faith in the power of the law to regulate human vice.

I start writing when I overcome my disgust with literature.

To me, the Sherlock Holmes stories are about a great friendship. Without Watson, Holmes might well have burnt out on cocaine long ago. I hope the series shows how important friendship is.

Where there is much pretension, much has been borrowed; nature never pretends.

Unlike films, which can be easily disseminated worldwide via DVDs and the Internet, plays struggle to find an international audience.

We worship God, but have no faith in the workings of God's laws of love. The world awaits the living of the law of love, which will reach the divine within all human beings and transform them.

There are three sides to every story: my side, your side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each one differently.