It's hard to stay calm when you're terrified, helpless, alone, at the mercy of men with no mercy at all.

You have to learn to love the small things in life, like a hot bath. You have to love the small things, when you have nothing else

I have learned all kinds of things from my many mistakes. The one thing I never learn to stop making them.

It is easy to forget how much you have, when your eyes are always fixed on what you have not.

Travel brings wisdom only to the wise. It renders the ignorant more ignorant than ever.

Get what you can with words, because words are free, but the words of an armed man ring that much sweeter.

You should laugh every moment you live, for you'll find it decidedly difficult afterwards.

Proof is boring. Proof is tiresome. Proof is an irrelevance. People would far rather be handed an easy lie than search for a difficult truth, especially if it suits their own purposes.

Armour... is part of a state of mind... in which you admit the possibility... of being hit.

If life has taught me one thing, it's that there are no villains. Only people, doing their best.

I've made peace with myself. Good for you. That's the hardest war of all to win. Didn't say I won. Just stopped fighting.

To succeed in your mission, you must aim at your goal with dedication and devotion

Be so free that nothing more than your future can distract your attention.

Please don't trouble yourself with my scars. At least not right now, OK?

In my iPod, there are many operas, from A to Z. I have 'Aida' and 'Boheme' and 'Butterfly' and 'Cavalleria'. My passion is for opera, but when I'm in the car, I listen to everything.

The thorn is a bridge spanning the muddy depths of agony and sorrow so that one may on the other side dance to the drums of the rose of joy.

Writing was my route to creative expression, and I needed to write about the things that interested me.

I can't do negative, needy, or narcissistic anymore. Oh wait, I can still do the last one, aw nuts.

Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?

I'll put it frankly - Britain has more influence in China than Norway or Switzerland, with all respect for the other countries.

When Shakespeare doesn't feel like Shakespeare, it's the best.