The flesh of past lovers looks both familiar and strange.

Pain narrows consciousness; pleasure blurs it.

When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows.

My passions have never jumped out of the fireplace and set fire to the carpet.

Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not a return to the hedonism of youth

The sewing machine joins what the scissors have cut asunder, plus whatever else comes in its path.

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.

The laughter of the aphorism is sometimes triumphant, but seldom carefree.

'Be faithful to your roots' is the liberal version of 'Stay in your ghetto.'

Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed.

Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.

The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.

The best way of avoiding mistakes is doing nothing

The road to freedom lies not through mysteries or occult performances, but through the intelligent use of natural forces and laws.

Journey over, sorrowless, freed in every way, and with all bonds broken - for such a man there is no more distress.

Poetry and I fit together. I can't imagine being without it... It is food and drink, it is all seasons, it is the stuff of all existence.

A sensual and intemperate youth hands over a worn-out body to old age. [Lat., Libidinosa etenim et intemperans adolescentiam effoetum corpus tradit senectuti.]

Satire about any and all professionals with a special vocabulary has been a staple of fiction and popular ridicule since the 18th century.

Strength of mind rests in sobriety; for this keeps your reason unclouded by passion.

What I'm most pleased about is that there's no particular decline. The songs I wrote 40 years ago are no worse and no better - there's a consistency.

Spirit over mind. Mind over matter. It's that simple