Often the grind of book promotion wearies you of your own book - though at the same time this frees you from its clutches.

A pier is a disappointed bridge; yet stare at it for long enough and you can dream it to the other side of the Channel.

Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books.

The greatest patriotism is to tell your country when it is behaving dishonorably, foolishly, viciously.

The writer must be universal in sympathy and an outcast by nature: only then can he see clearly.

The land of embarrassment and breakfast.

When you read a great book, you don't escape from life, you plunge deeper into it.

History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.

What is the easiest, the most comfortable thing for a writer to do? To congratulate the society in which he lives: to admire its biceps, applaud its progress, tease it endearingly about its follies.

Some of the freckles I once loved are now closer to liver spots. But it’s still the eyes we look at, isn’t it? That’s where we found the other person, and find them still.

The more you learn, the less you fear. "Learn" not in the sense of academic study, but in the practical understanding of life.

The world is so lawful that not even a single mosquito can touch you, as long as you do not interfere. If your interference stops, everything will stop.

The quest for knowledge never ends

What the world expects of Christians is that Christians should speak out, loud and clear... in such a way that never a doubt, never the slightest doubt, could rise in the heart of the simplest man.

Children hold us hostage; they represent our commitment to the future.

My fear, as an American, is that our own actions are going to contribute to an inspiration for terrorists to want to harm us or kill us.

Whenever you get an inflamed tendon, you've got a problem. OK, here's the next pitch to Gene Tendon.

I don't take myself that seriously, I'm taking the piss out of myself. I can't really beat up guys, it's fun!

I like doing other things. I like getting high, hanging out with my kids. I like drinking. I have so many demons.

Spirituality isn't about being finished and perfect; spirituality is about trusting God in our unfinishedness.

I am Roman, alas, because Horace is Roman.