Purity engenders Wisdom, Passion avarice, and Ignorance folly, infatuation and darkness.

Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils.

Green leaves on a dead tree is our epitaph-green leaves, dear reader, on a dead tree.

There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.

We may assume that we keep people waiting symbolically because we do not wish to see them and that our anxiety is due not to being late, but to having to see them at all.

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.

No city should be too large for a man to walk out of in a morning.

The true index of a man's character is the health of his wife.

There are many who dare not kill themselves for fear of what the neighbours will say.

While thoughts exist, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living.

All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others.

Hermione was back, holding out a gossamer dress of rainbow chiffon so airy I thought of fireflies on a moonlight night.

We should always be learning. However, we must be careful not to set aside our faith in the process, because faith actually enhances our ability to learn.

The map we made of the 3, 000-year-old city of Tanis requires no imagination. It has buildings, streets, admin complexes, houses - clear as day.

...many of the officials, courtiers, and priests, representing the upper class of Egyptian society but not the royalty, looked strikingly like modern Europeans, especially long-headed ones

Fascism was a counter-revolution against a revolution that never took place.

Satan is an astute theologian.

When I start to write, I see my stories as a kind of movie. For instance, I ask myself, "What kind of opening do I want for this book?"

Rap - so many words, so little said.

Record companies are not necessarily interested in you realizing your artistic dream. The bottom line is that they got to sell records.