It is very difficult to be a hero without an audience, although, in a sense, we are each the hero of a peculiar, half-ruined film called our life.

There is such solace in the mere sight of water. It clothes us delicately in its blowing salt and scent, gossamer items that medicate the poor soul

Because it strikes me there is something greater than judgement. I think it is called mercy.

That is because at the close of the day the ship we sail in is the soul, not the body.

After all the world is indeed beautiful and if we were any other creature than man we might be continuously happy in it.

The human animal began as a mere wriggling thing in the ancient seas, struggling out onto land with many regrets. That is what brings us so full of longing to the sea.

I haven't really written my plays and books - I've heard them. The stories are there already, singing in your genes and in your blood.

It is always worth itemising happiness, there is so much of the other thing in a life, you had better put down the markers for happiness while you can.

A beard on a man is only a way of hiding something, his face of course, but also the inner matters, like a hedge around a secret garden, or a cover over a bird cage.

And whatever my life had been up to that day, it was another life after that. And that is the gospel truth.

For I did not want him to see, or to question me, for here contains already secrets, and my secrets are my fortune and my sanity.

Standing alone is better than standing with people who don't appreciate you.

You can't become a decent horseman until you fall off and get up again, a good number of times. There's life in a nutshell.

Would you like me to let you go home to your love today?" he asked. It was obvious that my preference for someone else bothered him, but instead of choosing to ve angry, he showed compassion.

Everything but happiness is neurosis.

Whoever said it's tough at the top is talking absolute sh*t.

The childless escape much misery.

A physician is obligated to consider more than a diseased organ, more even than the whole man - he must view the man in his world.

We're all filled with naturally recurring patterns that make us unique - they're called talents. And our charge is to bloody well use them.

I hate this, I want this to stop, how are we supposed to live with this, and how am I supposed to walk away? You’re real and I hate you for it.

Being single can pave the way for new opportunities.