Oh heavens, how I long for a little ordinary human enthusiasm. Just enthusiasm - that's all. I want to hear a warm, thrilling voice cry out Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I'm alive!

Royalty is the gold filling in a mouthful of decay

Don't clap too hard - it's a very old building.

Writers don't need love; all they require is money.

Go on - but don't think you can kill my confidence. I've had experts doing it for years.

I must be the luckiest man in the world. Not only am I bisexual, I am also Welsh.

They spend their time looking forward to the past.

A refined sort of butcher, a woman is.

We all of us waited for him to die. The family sent him a check every month, and hoped he'd get on with it quietly, without too much vulgar fuss.

Don't be afraid of being emotional. You won't die of it.

Asking a writer what he thinks about criticism is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.

In order to share one's true brilliance one initially has to risk looking like a fool: genius is like a wheel that spins so fast, it at first glance appears to be sitting still.

Indeed, the human mind appeared to suffer from a crippling need to fabricate in the absence of concrete proof.

... for when a man's spirit has been thoroughly crushed, he may be peevish at small offenses, but never resentful of great ones.

I would rather have 10, 000 stories than 10, 000 in my bank account @myhumancompass Roy ('Backpack') Baron author of Looking Glass Shattered.

Don't pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

Anger as soon as fed is dead 'tis starving makes it fat.

When you grow a business, it belongs to a lot of other people besides you. As much as you want to control it, the minute you go public, it becomes a business . . .

If I have led my life totally deliberately, then when I come to the end of the diving board, I can just fall off the diving board and it will be perfect. I won't even remember what happened.

It's hard when you make a film from a book that so many people love, because there's no way to get the entire story into a two-hour movie. But I was pleased with the reaction [for Kite Runner].

Establish who you are, and don't let anybody dress you up or change the way you are, and stay true to yourself.