The universe is a million billion light-years wide, and every inch of it would kill you if you went there. This is the position of the universe with regards to human life.

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.

One of the characteristics of some drugs (such as cocaine) is that they make a person feel strong and alert—when in fact the opposite is the case. Don’t allow yourself to be deceived.

We're all strange inside. We learn how to disguise our differences as we grow up.

A sound body keeps a sound mind.

The capacity to creatively improvise is an important factor that differentiates successful companies - or teams - from those that are not successful.

Simplicity is a key to avoiding complication. Part of the definition of simplicity is 'not complex or complicated; sincere.'

Why have we had to invent Eden, to live submerged in the nostalgia of a lost paradise, to make up utopias, propose a future for ourselves?

You don't have to be a preacher to talk about what matters, and you don't have to drop the pleasures of style

Imagine people calling you to find out if you're dead. I've led a real crazy life at times, and I've had many strange things happen to me, but that was one of the strangest.

It is not a matter of thinking a great deal but of loving a great deal, so do whatever arouses you most to love.

Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what outside, but what is inside that counts.