This is what those who haven’t crossed the tropic of grief often fail to understand: the fact that someone is dead may mean that they are not alive, but doesn’t mean that they do not exist.

A pier is a disappointed bridge; yet stare at it for long enough and you can dream it to the other side of the Channel.

Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books.

The greatest patriotism is to tell your country when it is behaving dishonorably, foolishly, viciously.

The writer must be universal in sympathy and an outcast by nature: only then can he see clearly.

The land of embarrassment and breakfast.

When you read a great book, you don't escape from life, you plunge deeper into it.

History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.

What is the easiest, the most comfortable thing for a writer to do? To congratulate the society in which he lives: to admire its biceps, applaud its progress, tease it endearingly about its follies.

Some of the freckles I once loved are now closer to liver spots. But it’s still the eyes we look at, isn’t it? That’s where we found the other person, and find them still.

The more you learn, the less you fear. "Learn" not in the sense of academic study, but in the practical understanding of life.

Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows.

Everyone has love, but it can only come out when he is convinced of the impossibility and the frustration of trying to love himself.

My feelings about myself have been terrible.

He is educated who knows how to find out what he doesn't know.

I hereby accuse the North American empire of being the biggest menace to our planet.

Surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don't expect it and often feel they don't deserve it.

Old Care has a mortgage on every estate, And that's what you pay for the wealth that you get.

If a person ever came to me as a fan and tried to go out on a date, I wouldn't. I've had enough kind of crazy experiences in that department.

I like to work for a while, and then do nothing for some period.

If it's not broken, break it. That's how new discoveries are made. That's why everything that changes life is called a breakthrough.