He is an exceptional talent. I still think Diego Maradona is the best player I have ever seen but Messi is closing in fast. He's a wonderful sight in full flight and we are lucky to have him around.

I will never forget my time with Athletic Club and I'd like to thank the fans and staff for all their support and, above all, wish all my fantastic former team-mates all the best for the future.

I'm not sure Messi is a human.

In order to have great happiness, you have to have great pain and unhappiness-otherwise how would you know when you're happy?

If you are rude, cynical, habitually-sarcastic or pessimistic, your life options are going to be very limited.

Librarians were like guardian angels, with graying hair and beady eyes, magnified through reading glasses, and always read to recommend new literary windows to gaze through.

Philosophy - the purple bullfinch in the lilac tree.

Paintings! They're like TV, but they don't move.

Who will take medicine unless he knows he is in the grip of disease?

And for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.

Maybe I fear things going wrong so much that I pre-empt them by not getting excited about them when they appear to be. going well.

I've always loved painting, although I never show anyone what I've done. Mainly because I don't do it well. But it's like a form of visual diary for me. A way of fixing things in my mind.

If you have a purpose in which you can believe, there's no end to the amount of things you can accomplish.