Those two, in paradise, were given a choice: happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There was no third alternative.

We comes from God, I from the Devil.

The lilac branches are bowed under the weight of the flowers: blooming is hard, and the most important thing is - to bloom. (“A Story About The Most Important Thing”)

The nights were long, like the braids of a pretty girl, and the days were short, like a girl's sense. ("The North")

Heretics are the only bitter remedy against the entropy of human thought.

True literature can exist only where it is created, not by diligent and trustworthy functionaries, but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels, and skeptics.

A man is like a novel: until the very last page you don't know how it will end. Otherwise it wouldn't be worth reading.

Literature is painting, architecture, and music.

There is no final one; revolutions are infinite.

We need writers who fear nothing. ("Our Goal")

There are books of the same chemical composition as dynamite. The only difference is that a piece of dynamite explodes once, whereas a book explodes a thousand times.

The excitement of dreams coming true is beyond the description of words.

I suppose that I did for myself what psychoanalysts do for their patients. I expressed some very long felt and deeply felt emotion. And in expressing it I explained it and then laid it to rest.

I didn't belong as a kid and that always bothered me. If only I'd known that one day my differentness would be an asset then my early life would have been much easier.

The world today is so full of violence, obscenity, war, the failure of political systems. I try to make movies that make people a bit more confident. But that doesn't mean being sugary.

Calling it off comes easy enough if you haven't told the girl you are smitten with her.

I just finished touring, and I'm on a detox thing. It's a heavy detox, so nothing in my belly except water, salt, and cayenne pepper.

Old religious factions are volcanoes burnt out.

A man loses his sense of direction after four drinks; a woman loses hers after four kisses.

My kids get very upset with me when I leave to do film work, but they have a lot of patience with me when I leave to do environmental work.

Obviously, I need to study princesses further.