But poetry is not to be lived, except for the few to whom it is more important than self-preservation.

One can present people with opportunities. One cannot make them equal to them.

anything that becomes a cult, or a mass movement, loses its moral and spiritual value. The crusade has to be personal, individual. As soon as it becomes collective it loses its purpose.

when two people unite, kindness must be mutual, or shocking things will happen.

How long, I wonder, will ignorance spell purity and knowledge shame?

Convention is another name for the habits of society.

[On Ian Fleming:] The trouble with Ian is that he gets off with women because he can't get on with them.

One must have the humility and the imagination to honor all deep human experiences - not least those one has never come near to sharing.

Holidays, if you enjoy them, have no history.

The novel will never die, but it will keep changing and evolving and taking different shapes.

One should always act from one's inner sense of rhythm.

The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.

Thank God for the solitude of the Sabbath.

If your grip on coins of life is not strong enough than they will gradually slip away from your hands, for surely one day you will find that your hands are empty

Sometimes it can be really rough, but I believe if we love one another more, we can help to share the burdens and make the world a better place.

Music is a strange thing. I would almost say it is a miracle. For it stands halfway between thought and phenomenon between spirit and matter.

The two of us could form a new kind of union; we could be free together.

Special effects are characters. Special effects are essential elements. Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they aren't there.

You should view the world as a conspiracy run by a very closely-knit group of nearly omnipotent people, and you should think of those people as yourself and your friends.

I will say that Rick will probably die before the end of the book. I'll go ahead and put that in print. Nobody's safe. I've almost killed him three times already.

Carlton Palmer can trap the ball further than I can kick it