I want incremental improvements. There's the record of all the revolutionary and violent change and extremism in general - it's dreadful.

Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without thorn.

Religious belief is without reason and without dignity, and its record is near-universally dreadful.

Probably human cruelty is fixed and eternal. Only styles change.

My life looked good on paper - where, in fact, almost all of it was being lived.

When the past is forgotten, the present is unforgettable

Closure is a greasy little word which, moreover, describes a nonexistent condition. The truth, Venus, is that nobody gets over anything.

Perhaps there are other bits of my life that would take on content, take on shadow, if only I read more and thought less about money.

When you’ve lost all your play, guess what love becomes. Work. Work that gets harder every hour.

Love is blind; but it makes you see the blind man; teetering on the roadside . . .

Every 10 years you're a different person, and the really great books evolve with you as you get older. They're full of new rewards.

The problem is good has a limit, bad none!

The house is eerily quiet. All this time I thought silence would be a welcome reprieve, but it's less comforting than I imagined. The house feels so much bigger and colder than it ever has.

Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.

By being inattentive to the needs of others, inevitably we end up harming them.

They say I'm a natural, I have natural charisma. People say that. I don't know.

We cannot heal the throbbing heart till we discern the wounds within.

When we wake, it is because something, some event, some pinprick even, disturbs the edges of what we’ve taken as reality.

Oh, you young people act like old men. You have no fun.

Complete independence through truth and non-violence means the independence of every unit, be it the humblest of the nation, without distinction of race, colour or creed.

it's way too early for him to be talking anyhow but I see in his eyes something and I see in his eyes a voice and I see in his eyes a whole new set of words