There are writers I return to no matter what I'm working on, writers like the South African J.M. Coetzee. He has an ability to make you feel that he is writing for you alone.

Immigration, a lexicon. You're a 'migrant' when you're very poor; 'immigrant' when you're not so poor; and 'expat' when you're rich.

Historical novels, in particular, allow us to relive the past without the neatness of history, and with all the complexity of the present.

In some ways, I think it's the closest that we come to the truth — is in the form of fiction.

The universe had an odd sense of fairness; it took away things one did not want to give up, and then gave things one did not ask for.

A name is precious; it carries inside it a language, a history, a set of traditions, a particular way of looking at the world. Losing it meant losing my ties to all those things too.

Thing that was very different for me is that an American child's reading is filled with Americans.

No one wrote better about the sin of pride, the corruption of power and the redemption of love. I will miss you, Gabriel García Márquez.

I began reading in French. I didn't read in English until high school.

There is a insularity within American fiction even for adults. It's very tough for books in translation in the US.

I love James Baldwin essays, but also his novels. I recently read "Another Country." I couldn't believe how ahead of his time he was.

If we're told that human ain't the highest among creatures, then it'd be difficult to raise human dignity into current level.

..Thirty's the end of being young, forty is where you stop fooling yourself.

For always remember that while it is wrong to use too few, it is often far worse to use too many." - Which Macabre

A racing driver has to be a good driver.

[Donald Trump] attitude towards our longest defense alliance and NATO, that we should somehow walk away from it.

We do not need to wait for the Holy Spirit to come: he came on the day of Pentecost. He has never left the church.

I wonder now what Ernest Hemingways dictionary looked like, since he got along so well with dinky words that anybody can spell and truly understand.

It would be a good contest amongst Christians, one to labour to give no offence, and the other to labour to take none. The best men are severe to themselves, tender over others.

I consider myself to be a pretty good judge of people... that's why I don't like any of them.

In a game like football, where you have very little time to decide what you are going to do, you have to react almost instinctively, naturally.