Fate would never permit happiness to a man of such talent-a content poet is a mediocre one, a happy poet is insufferable.

I wonder whether there is such a thing as a sense of individuality. Is it all a facade, covering a deep need to belong? Are we simply pack animals desperately trying to pretend we are not?

I believe one has to escape oneself to discover oneself.

...What happens is of little significance compared with the stories we tell ourselves about what happens. Events matter little, only stories of events affect us.

I wonder if being sane means disregarding the chaos that is life, pretending only an infinitesimal segment of it is reality.

The eye always fills in the imperfections.

I long ago abandoned myself to a blind lust for the written word. Literature is my sandbox. In it I play, build my forts and castles, spend glorious time.

What is the purpose of a city if not to grant the greatest of gifts, anonymity?

There are two kinds of people in this world: people who want to be desired, and people who want to be desired so much that they pretend they don't.

I'm an atheist, a devout atheist, but I find religion fascinating. Primarily because of cultural references, as in: This is what we grew up with. Both on a personal level and a collective level.

For someone like me and my generation, you had to speak French to be sophisticated, you had to be lighter-skinned.

If everybody lived as I do, surely the writing of romance novels would never have come into being.

We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition [against ISIS]. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve.

You invited him into bed?" Simon demanded, looking shaken. "Ridiculous, isn't it?" said Jace. "We would never have all fit.

I'd experienced the '40s and '50s by looking at my grandparents' old clothes, books, and magazines

Identity is such a crucial affair that one shouldn't rush into it.

I haven't had a perfect career. I've put some albums out that, looking back, I'm not super proud of, but there's also a lot of stuff that I am very proud of.

Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world's greatest need.

An awareness of our past is essential to the establishment of our personality and our identity as Africans.

You might be a redneck if your momma tore her best dress coon hunting.

I've worked hard and accomplished what I've accomplished in the heavyweight scene.