To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness.

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.

Sometimes you must do crazy things to discover the life beyond your life, to enter the unknown zone beyond your known zone!

Lovers moon and wishing stars are too busy for the likes of us.

As the possessor of complete knowledge, God is not mistaken about people's experiences as people are mistaken about each others' experiences.

I like to make an image that is so simple you can't avoid it, and so complicated you can't figure it out.

None of us always make the best financial decisions.

The books all say that barracuda rarely eat people, but very few barracuda can read.

Living an environmentally responsible lifestyle can seem like a Scrooge-like list of don'ts. Don't take that flight, don't buy that car, don't eat those blueberries flown in from somewhere far-flung.

I think I've been really lucky to keep my career so varied, and to be open. There's safety in repetition, but there's also a trap there.

Confidence is closely linked to how well our perceptions match reality

If you're betwixt and between, trust the one with red hair.