There are occasions when I would rather feel like a fly than a spider.

Spoon feeding, in the long run, teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.

Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown

Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! we return.

I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars.

Ideas are fatal to caste.

Pathos, piety, courage, they exist, but are identical, and so is filth. Everything exists, nothing has value.

The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death.

One always tends to overpraise a long book, because one has got through it.

Religion is what an individual does with his solitariness.

You wouldn't want to be in a rock band - trust me.

I always have directors who are somewhat frustrated because they'll reference a beautifully obscure film from the '50s or '60s or '70s, and I've not seen it.

The Obama administration announced a deal with Iran that would prevent the Iranians from making a nuclear weapon. In exchange, we're giving the Iranians Netflix.

I am not particularly interested in saving time; I prefer to enjoy it.

The definition of woman's work is shitwork.

The writer ... an athlete required to break the four-minute mile every morning.

Big success requires big sacrifices. Don't find out later that the cost was too high. Denial is said to be even more potent than cocaine; neither drug enhances your marketability.

Much more than a 20th-century village storyteller, Cees Nooteboom stands as an impressive and inimitable voice among contemporary writers.

Make use of time, let not advantage slip.