Never joke with the press. Irony does not translate into newsprint.

You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy.

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.

And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.

I have accepted fear as a part of life - specifically the fear of change... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back.

The stones themselves are thick with history, and those cats that dash through the alleyways must surely be the ghosts of the famous dead in feline disguise.

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.

Ambivalence is a wonderful tune to dance to. It has a rhythm all its own.

Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.

How wonderful to have someone to blame! How wonderful to live with one's nemesis! You may be miserable, but you feel forever in the right.

My generation was not only maligned in book reviews and attacked in graduate school but we lived to see our adored and adorable daughters wonder why feminism had become a dirty word.

Being apart was wrong. Simply lying side by side did more for a relationship than words. A warm bed, a nest of animal intimacy. Words could be misunderstood, whereas loving companionship bred trust.

Anybody who has had a great treasure has always led a precarious existence.

No matter what the competition is I try to find a goal that day and better that goal.

When I want a peerage, I shall buy one like an honest man.

One of the things I love about acting is other actors, looking into their eyes, and working off them, and listening and responding to them.

Scientists are discovering that while anger and hatred eat into our immune system, warm-heartedness and compassion are good for our health.

I think one reason my books have found mainstream success is that they're written from a skeptical point of view.

Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.

There is nothing like a fixed, steady aim, with an honorable purpose. It dignifies your nature, and insures your success.

The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length.