Life is all getting used to what you're not used to.

When you read to a child, when you put a book in a child's hands, you are bringing that child news of the infinitely varied nature of life. You are an awakener.

A good novel begins with a small question and ends with a bigger one.

The minute you become conscious that you are doing good, that's the minute you have to stop because from then on it's wrong.

To be human is to be in a story.

Families hold each other in an iron grip of definition. One must break the grip, somehow.

The language of labels is like paper money, issued irresponsibly, with nothing of intrinsic value behind it, that is, with no effort of the intelligence to see, to really apprehend.

Literature is the province of imagination, and stories, in whatever guise, are meditations on life.

People steal into one's consciousness and occupy what seems, in retrospect, to have been their place all along.

I was the goldfish that leapt out of the bowl.

we are, in this country, more open to new ideas. But we are also, it seems to me, more inclined to hail the new as absolute truth - until the next new comes along.

Women think of all colors except the absence of color. I have said that black has it all. White too. Their beauty is absolute. It is the perfect harmony.

Recessions are great because they unlock the best people.

E-mail is a modern Penny Post: the world is a single city with a single postal rate.

I am not a perfect friend, and it is impossible not to rebuff or be rebuffed if you move about the world.

Ergometer is Greek for 'work meter'

You can't arrest me. I'm the Cake Boss.

Women are much more honourable than men.

We won't get any growth in Greece by just imposing cuts. What I would prefer is a special economic zone for Greece.

I think future generations will say the late 20th century and the early 21st century was a time of great convulsions and upheavals.

Working with the same people is so much quicker and frees up your energy for other things.