Our interaction with our friends, for instance, is in large part an interaction with representations in our own head of the people before us. That's why a friend can surprise or disappoint us.

Experience belongs to the actor, but the story belongs to the teller. We write so we will never forget.

The twentieth century saw a professionalization of fiction writing, particularly in its second half and particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world - not so much mainland Europe, for example.

No sight better expresses the politics of aid, the dynamics of the West and the developing countries, than the image of children, happy or in need.

Everything new is on the rim of our view, in the darkness, below the horizon, so that nothing new is visible but in the light of what we know.

That’s another argument for writing: making something that outlasts you.

When evil enters the world, do you think it comes with horns and cloven feet, billowing some foul stench?

Then, as now, I believe that the English use language to hide what they mean.

Our choices are made, our will flexed, in the teeth of events that overwhelm us and devour us.

It’s always nice to learn a thing or two from a novel, don’t you think?

It is no consolation to reflect that every cause itself is an effect, making the search for causes and reasons a fool’s errand.

I definitely can relate to being down and closed-off at certain times in my life.

There's so much tragedy in people that we see every day that we don't have to make anything up. We don't have to invent anything. There are two items on the menu: comedy and tragedy.

Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. I don't think an artist can ever be happy.

As an actor, to do all sorts of different films is great.

I'm brilliant as well as skilled," he said modestly. "It's a great burden, all of that on top of my angelic good looks. But I try to soldier on as best I can.

Only the fakes survive.

I've heard people in the Middle East tell me that the most inspiring thing for them as people struggling against dictatorship in the Middle East is the memory of the civil rights movement.

I don't have the feeling that as a very young person I read books that absolutely made their mark on my mind.

Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!

I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the American Constitution.