Olympus is still a patriarchy. Zeus heads his royal household as jealously as Jehovah rules his harem of dull, harp-playing angels. Both are templates for order on earth, don’t you think?

The fear of losing anything is the inability to prepare for the best.

People who want to make a million borrow a million first

Stories are a different kind of true.

You have divine abilities for a great mission.

I am a collection of dismantled almosts.

I do lots of reading and speaking at many universities about literature and also about politics, which is as much a part of my life as the literature.

I believe every change any word has undergone probably originated in ignorance.

If I have no children what would be the point of living.

Real life has always let me down. That's why I do the monologues. I have always said I would rather tell a life than live a life. But I have to live a life in order to tell one.

I believe that meetings at the top level in a relatively informal atmosphere are always useful, and there is reason to hope that we will make progress in resolving the matters we will be considering.