What happiness is there in just the memory of 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.

Just pick a goal and stick to it―no big complicated secret.

Crying does not indicate that you are weak. Since birth, it has always been a sign that you are alive.

Don't believe a man will give you the world if he doesn't even buy you flowers.

You're something, alright." I laughed into his bare chest, my eyes closing. "I'm your something..." His voice trailed off into a wisper as I drifted off.

I'm a workaholic. Before long I'm traveling on my nervous energy alone. This is incredibly exhausting.

In Zen we strive to bring both the mind and the body into perfect combination, so that there is no intrinsic difference between them.

Some people can handle alcohol. You know who you are. Some people can't handle alcohol. The police know who you are.

I love men that love women. Morgan Freeman, who I worked with on 'RED,' was very flattering to me. But he is flattering to all women. He is a woman-charmer.

There are certain people who elicit a really passionate response. It's crazy. That's my Alexander Wang theory.

I've never liked what's meant to be cool. I was asked to do Glastonbury the year before last actually, but I couldn't make it. I would have liked to, but I'm not really a festival man.