Surely there is something to be said for drawing a circle around our attention and remaining within that circle. But how large should this circle be?

You can't state difference and also state equality. We have to state sameness to understand equality.

As far as I'm concerned, if you want to find out about the last day of WWII or the roots of the Indian Mutiny, get thee to a books catalogue.

The past is always tense, the future perfect.

Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.

Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.

Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation’. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle’. All that matters is what you leave on the page.

Time is how you spend your love.

I am the sole author of the dictionary that defines me.

Don't confuse honours with achievement.

Pulchritude--beauty where you would least suspect it, hidden in a word that looked like it should signify a belch or a skin infection.

The world will not get better, only we get and grow better.

To live today well and to avoid tomorrow's trouble, past should not be forgotten.

There are so many people that would be lined up to get their cut that even trying to finance a reboot of 'Frasier' would be nightmarish.

Pity and forbearance should characterize all acts of justice.

Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down.

I learned that real happiness doesn’t come from getting but from giving.

Life, for Colin, was one long brace against pain and disappointment, and everybody apart from his wife was an enemy until proven otherwise.

I had a calling to become what I became - I was created to do this.

The greatness of Americans is that we are mosaic - we are diverse.

My mind's my 9, my pen's my Mac-10. My target? All you wack niggaz who started rappin'.