Any time one seeks to produce for a larger public one inevitably has to drop material that would only be understood by a particular group.

Italy is not a country for beginners.

With books at least, the best experiences are not when you find what you were looking for, but when something quite different finds you, takes you by surprise, shifts your tastes to new territory.

In any power game, it seems, the dominant party is the least likely to be aware of what is going on.

A writer looks at an issue and asks, 'What if this were to occur? Or what if that was thrown into the mix? What would that look like?

Optimism is denial for chumps with no life experience"."What's pessimism?" I said."Religion without God.

Sometimes I don't feel as if I'm a person at all. I'm just a collection of other people's ideas.

Without professionalism I'd be an amateur, and the clients I want don't hire amateurs.

Our relationship felt like a Christmas gift that you hadn't asked for and weren't expecting to receive, but the minute you saw it, you knew it was perfect for you.

I had no intention of becoming an academic. How could a person who was having trouble reading become an academic?

I've read some of your modern free verse and wonder who set it free.

You may have noticed that the less I know about a subject the more confidence I have, and the more new light I throw on it.

Any given man sees only a tiny portion of the total truth, and very often, in fact almost ... perpetually, he deliberately deceives himself about that little precious fragment as well.

I've always been interested in combining architecture with a social agenda, and I really think you can invest and be inventive with hospitals and housing.