I believe that writers, unless they consider themselves terribly exquisite, are at heart people who live by night, a little bit outside society, moving between delinquency and conformity

A good smoker, like a good lover, always takes his time with a cigar.

I was never a true journalist, I was a movie critic.

I think writers rush in where everybody is very frightened to tread

I think that I've tried many times to get Cuba in my writings, especially Havana, which was once a great and fascinating city.

When I write, the first blank page, or any blank page, means nothing to me. What means something is a page that has been filled with words.

Cigars must be smoked one at a time, peaceably, with all the leisure in the world. Cigarettes are of the instant, Cigars are for eternity.

I was an avid radio fan when I was a boy, as well as a great lover of comic strips

So I do not consider myself a chronicler of my fatherland or even a chronicler of Havana

What I do believe is that there is always a relationship between writing and reading, a constant interplay between the writer on the one hand and the reader on the other

Writing for me, even what you call serious writing, is play.

Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no fibs.

Cereal when high is always a great option. I don't even have cereal for that reason.

I love having my hair and makeup done for red carpets, but to have that done every day would be exhausting.

An artist paints his own reality.

I mean, I'm not a, you know, a fraidy cat. I mean, I am truly concerned in this country that we are moving towards fascism.

My music was made with everyone in mind with no prejudice towards anyone.

Where is the pricing system that offers the consumer a fair choice between air to breathe and motor cars to drive about in?

I never said I do not remember, my grandmother corrects. I said I prefer to forget.

Holes in the memory. You grab on to some things, others have completely disappeared.

The way I've been with drink and drugs suggests I have a tendency to get addicted to things.