Very few of my characters are based on people I've known. It is too constricting.

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.

I've learned a lot about my voice, and about things I can do with it. Maybe that's why my sound has become a little more pop.

You have to think not about what you mean but about what people hear.

I've been fighting my whole life.

Every startup has a chance to change the world, by bringing not just a new product, but an entirely new institution into existence.

I struggle for what I believe in. Life is short, it's impossible to repeat something; you have to take advantage of things when you can reach them.

I am going to have one Klitschko for breakfast and one Klitschko for lunch.

In aid, the proper attitude is one omitting gratitude

Singing your own songs live is so personal, it's like standing there reading out your diary pages. I still get really nervous so I would have to say performing is the greater rush for me.

Success comes from the ability to view each arising problem as an opportunity for self improvement.