I share my name with an aerobatic bird that can whiz across a whole summer sky in seconds. A swift is so equipped for speed that it can scarcely cope with being stationary.

The real art is not to come up with extraordinary clever words but to make ordinary simple words do extraordinary things. To use the language that we all use and to make amazing things occur.

Happiness quells thought. And work quells thought.

Literature is the voice of the human heart.

People die when curiosity goes.

I can do hieroglyphics in the margin. There are days when I really enjoy the flow of ink. I mean, nice pen, ink straight on to the page.

What we wish upon the future is very often the image of some lost, imagined past.

When anything goes digital, let alone something as immaterial as a book, there is a tendency to see it as just in the air to be taken, and to lose the sense that somebody once made it.

I like the world we've got. If there is anything special and magical, I have to find it in the ordinary stuff.

Possibly he knew, as he wrote this, that he was mad - because inside every madman sits a little sane man saying 'You're mad, you're mad.'

I do my thinking while I walk. It just loosens up the mind in the way that you don't get when you are sitting at a desk.

You’re as strong as your resolutions!

It is better to apologise later than to ask for permission now. It is called self leadership

I am the creator of my destiny.

While democracy must have its organization and controls its vital breath is individual liberty.

You know what, I'm very attracted to someone who makes me laugh and is that charming. Really, I could be charmed by anyone. I'm just a sucker for somebody that is charming.

I don't like to read reviews. Even the good ones you start to analyze: 'Oh, did I do that? I have to make sure I do that again.

I'm not a big heel person anyways, I'll wear them on the red carpet, but I've always been the one who loves loafers and brogues.

Portray the world for what it is, and you will find truth.

Now we have a gig economy where many people are holding down several jobs at once. The whole concept of a 40-hour week makes people under 30 laugh.

You've got to learn to survive a defeat. That's when you develop character.