It's this thing that's going on all the time - aging. Paul Auster quotes the poet George Opren on growing old: "What a strange thing to happen to a little boy." Which I think is so profound.

Have regrets. They are fuel. On the page they flare into desire.

The ideal is to feel at home anywhere, everywhere.

One's happiness is very largely a question of state of mind rather than the world you are looking at.

Nine times out of 10, the most charming thing to say in any given situation will be the exact opposite of what one really feels.

To be interested in something is to be involved in what is essentially a stressful relationship with that thing, to suffer anxiety on its behalf.

All the best essays are epistemological journeys from ignorance or curiosity to knowledge.

Life is bearable even when it's unbearable: that is what's so terrible, that is the unbearable thing about it.

Quite often, ambition operates on a level of irritation. Not even jealousy, just irritation.

When you are lonely, writing can keep you company. It is also a form of self-compensation, a way of making up for things—as opposed to making things up—that did not quite happen.

If you help them (the crew) create good memories, they'll forget all the bad stuff

Life is an interplay and display of perplexing energy.

I ran out of strong.

Where two principles really do meet which cannot be reconciled with one another, then each man declares the other a fool and a heretic

Most of the non-profit organizations are owned from the wealthy rich philanthropists but are managed and run from poor philanthropists.

Mum and Dad met campaigning on the Spanish civil war. Both were active peace campaigners. They died in 1986 and '87.

We only acknowledge small faults in order to make it appear that we are free from great ones.

In any survival situation, you need to weigh the risk and the reward.

He could have made it right with the book. But he hasn't. He is a revisionist of history. He has lied.

Behold the Zebra on the plains, And shudder at his mighty manes!

This world is rotten. The rotten should die.