Never ride a bike with the brakes on. If something is proving too difficult, give up and do something else. Try to live without resort to per­severance.

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

Don’t allow your crisis to become a crisis of faith.

Endure every hardship with hope.

It is not about problems, it is about solutions

There's always a place for the angry young man with his fist in the air and his head in the sand. He's never been able to learn from mistakes, he can't understand why his heart always breaks.

It never really occurred to me to believe in God.

Then it becomes necessary to get the field organisation to accept the help provided. This is normally the role of the Change Manager; to implement the change that no-one asked for or wants.

God holds with the strong.

Fundamentally, Eva is just my life copied out onto film. I'm [still] alive, so the story hasn't finished.

I don't know whether I could visit a new neighborhood now and have a kid's set of observations about a place. I no longer can really think like a child, though I can remember thinking like one.

(Britney Spears) went in for knee surgery and came out a little top heavy.