When she turned to see me smiling. It was an awkward smile, but you only really know what a smile means when you own the face behind it. Everyone else just sees the smile they expected it to be.

I don't want the world to keep turning without me on it.

Once-upon-a-time we buried the memories we didn't want.

Any punishment is an insult to the crime

She's known sadness. That's what it is. I only just thought that as I wrote it. She's known sadness, and it has made her kind.

You only really know what a smile means when you own the face behind it. Everyone else just sees the smile they expect it to be.

Inside my head is a jigsaw made of trillions and trillions and trillions of atoms. It might take a while.

Some madness doesn't act mad to begin with, sometimes it will knock politely at the door, and when you let it in, it'll simply sit in the corner without a fuss - and grow.

But that is what these people do - the Steves of this world - they all try and make something out of nothing. and they all do it for themselves.

One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three with whom you struggle to find things to talk about.

If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.

You paint the picture of your surroundings. Paint it beautifully.

Harry had worked his way through the American Dream and come to the conclusion that is was composed of a good lunch and a deep red wine that could soar.

What's the use of the wind if it won't take you away on it?

The business of the novelist is not to relate great events, but to make small ones interesting.

That's just the point: an honest and sensitive man opens his heart, and the man of business goes on eating - and then he eats you up.

Worry is not the symptom of a problematic life; it's the problem. Situations pass that make our life difficult, it's the worry that stay's with us that makes us ultimately unhappy.

You know, when I am working, I take really, really good care of myself. I eat really well, and I exercise, and again, I have this team of people pulling me together every day.

You cannot apply your high standards to a country [Egypt] burdened with decades of autocratic rule. Our democracy is still in its infancy.