A man is not much if he can't depend on himself, and nothing if others can't depend on him.

Fictional characters are made of words, not flesh; they do not have free will, they do not exercise volition. They are easily born, and as easily killed off.

In order really to write one has to sink deep into the self and become lost there.

All my life I have lied. I lied to escape, I lied to be loved, I lied for placement and power; I lied to lie. It was a way of living; lies are life's almost-anagram.

The past beats inside me like a second heart.

If I was asked to say what was the greatest invention of human beings, I would say the sentence.

Everything we do is tinged with the knowledge that this may be the last time that we will do this, and that makes what we're doing incredibly sweet.

We carry the dead with us only until we die too, and then it is we who are borne along for a little while, and then our bearers in their turn drop, and so on into the unimaginable generations.

To take possession of a city of which you are not a native you must first fall in love there.

For memory, we use our imagination. We take a few strands of real time and carry them with us, then like an oyster we create a pearl around them.

Most crime fiction, no matter how 'hard-boiled' or bloodily forensic, is essentially sentimental, for most crime writers are disappointed romantics.

Keep marching boys and girls. Keep marching

The best lessons of life are learnt in silence and solitude.

The pen to a writer is like a cigarette to a smoker

The laws do not take upon them to punish any other than overt acts.

I think in order to move forward into the future, you need to know where you've been

Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.

No birth is an accident, No experience is without meaning, and no life is without value.

Life is given to us, we earn it by giving it.

The best social program is a productive job for anyone who's willing to work.

The worst bankrupt in the world is the man who has lost his enthusiasm. Let a man lose everything else in the world, but his enthusiasm and he will come through again to success.