Love is so holy, so confusing. It makes a man anxious, tormented. Love, how can I define it?

Dreams are more real than reality itself, they're closer to the self.

Writing eases my suffering . . . writing is my way of reaffirming my own existence.

Walk where your heart leads you, there are no restrictions and no burdens.

If you want to do anything, do it now, without compromise or concession, because you have only one life.

Observing humans and observing oneself yields a clear-minded starting point for literature.

Loneliness is a prerequisite for freedom. Freedom depends on the ability to reflect, and reflection can only begin when one is alone.

It's in literature that true life can be found. It's under the mask of fiction that you can tell the truth.

I don't want to be a strong hero who can save society. I just want to save myself.

For me, writing [was] a question of survival...I could not trust anyone, even my family. The atmosphere was so poisoned. People even in your own family could turn you in.

A good work can be communicated across languages ... [provided one does not] fall into the trap of narrow-minded nationalistic or chauvinistic thinking.

ولأنني رغم القبور..ورغم موت الأرضأرفض أن أموت

Too much hurry will bury your goals. Too much haste will make you waste. Too quick race will cripple your pace. Be patient.

Even when uttered by Democrats, "middle class" often sounds like a mealymouthed way of saying, "Us, and not them," where "them" includes poor people, snake handlers and those with pierced tongues.

Let go of everything. That is how you get everything; you let go of everything.

The waters are rising, but so am I. I am not going under, but over.

I was touring a lot... I loved the touring because you could really feel the audience. You were much closer to everything.

I'm obsessed with books.

The two men stared at each other. Assumptions were made, judgments rendered, dicks measured.

We are less than a decade away from the medical lab the size of a sugar cube.

I discover no kinship, no understanding, no mercy. I see only the overwhelming indifference of nature.