The harder the life, the finer the person.

I knew instinctively that it was the very hardness of life in the desert which drew me back there - it was the same pull which takes men back to the polar ice, to high mountains, and to the sea.

Hunger, thirst, heat and cold: I had tasted them in full

The meat smelt rank and was very tough, the soup was greasy and of a curious flavour, but it was a wonderful meal after all these hungry weeks.

..there are times when it is best to be content with what one has, so as not to lose everything.

What others say about you is irrelevant. You define who you are.

Holland is a fairly small country, and in a weird way, somewhat conservative. That might surprise people because it is a very tolerant place, but it's also a somewhat Calvinist country.

When two great powers disagree about anything - it doesn't matter what - they must find a way to settle it somehow by arbitration or by negotiation, not by war or threat of war.

At a very early age I started a cartoon scrapbook, actually when I was in high school. And it became, in turn, a scrapbook of my life. And there are about 2,000 volumes.

I think it was hiding a princess.

I was 4 years old when I sang in public for the very first time.

I'd say it's never a challenge to present white and heteronormative privilege. The hard thing is to write any other way.

My wife is Danish and we go to Denmark a couple of times a year.

You miss the ball you do not hit 100%