And it was strange, I thought, that sorrow lasts and can make a man look forward to death, but the mood of victory fills a moment and then is over

That element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing. It is my way of judging what I am doing - which is never an easy thing to do.

The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.

One isn’t born one’s self. One is born with a mass of expectations, a mass of other people’s ideas – and you have to work through it all.

Most people are not really free. They are confined by the niche in the world that they carve out for themselves. They limit themselves to fewer possibilities by the narrowness of their vision.

It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.

The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves.

Home is, I suppose just a child's idea. A house at night, and a lamp in the house. A place to feel safe.

One always writes comedy at the moment of deepest hysteria.

The world is always in movement.

All the details of the life and the quirks and the friendships can be laid out for us, but the mystery of the writing will remain. No amount of documentation, however fascinating, can take us there.

...recognizing that there is more heartbreak in continuous disappointment than a void...

Tell me what's emotion… and what's like… both words what do they mean?

Cheap editions of great books may be delightful, but cheap editions of great men are absolutely detestable

I'm hooked on my baby's love, there ain't nothing in the jug this strong.

I think there should be a literacy test and a poll tax for people to vote.

He held her as though she was a gift. Given to him in love. Something still and small. Unbearably precious.

There are also a number of humans living up there (Canada), and in many ways they have a lifestyle quite similar to ours, including such traditional American activities as driving Japanese cars.

Tea! The English could always be pacified with it!

(When asked about the free distribution of Akash tablet his party had promised) "Frankly, I am not the person who came up with the Aakash tablet. You need to ask the gentleman who came up with it.

Respect the child. Wait and see the new product of Nature. Nature loves analogies, but not repetitions. Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude.