I was about as political as a bath towel.

Much, maybe too much, has been written about literature.

A woman is human, obviously, but she represents a slightly different kind of humanity.

To love a book is, above all, to love its author: we want to meet him again, we want to spend our days with him.

People like to be listened to, as every researcher knows – every researcher, every writer, every spy.

...intimacy isn't something men talk about. They may talk about politics, literature, stocks, or sports, depending on the man, but about their love lives they keep silent, even to their dying breath.

Intimacy isn’t something men talk about.

Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you.

There is the darkness that frightens, the darkness that soothes, the darkness that is restful.

Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.

I always wonder when it was that I was embraced.

My job is to do what's right. And that's what I'm going to try and do.

While men believe themselves to be seeking truth for its own sake, they are in fact seeking life in truth.

You will move in the direction you are facing.

My father was a proctologist and my mother was an abstract artist, so that's how I view the world.

He could shred me so easily. A few words, a desperate look, and I was cut wide open.

I originally wanted to be a singer, but I was average. I made 18 records, but none were that great. I was in a dance band at Bournemouth Pavilion for three years, and I played guitar too.