The unflattering reviews are painful for short periods of time; the badly written ones are deeply, deeply insulting. That reviewer took no time to really read the book.

I have only to break into the tightness of a strawberry, and I see summer - its dust and lowering skies.

If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.

The function of freedom is to free someone else.

Don’t beg anybody for anything, especially love.

There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race - scientifically, anthropologically. Racism is a construct, a social construct... it has a social function, racism.

There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent.

All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.

Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.

I hear, I know. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.

The artist...is the voice of the people.

I had a fear of losing, a fear of what might happen if I had a bad game. Would I get dropped? I don't remember a lot of stuff in my career.

The shadow of my mother danced around the room to a tune that my own shadow sang.

There is not enough magic in a bloodline to forge an instant, irrevocable bond.

It is the faith and perseverance and single-mindedness with which Hitler has perfected his weapons of destruction that commands my admiration.

I think you're not a human being unless you have doubts and fears.

After I retired and came off the road, I gathered up all my musical instruments and suddenly, I wanted them all to be perfect.

I am carried in my shadow like a violin in its black case

I'm open to sci-fi, but I was never a diehard fan. I have no idea why it keeps following me. I'm extremely lucky, I guess; it's a lucrative venue.