We live by action—by acting on desire. Those of us who don't know how to want—whether geniuses or beggars—are related by impotence.

The value of things is not the time they last, but the intensity with which they occur. That is why there are unforgettable moments and unique people!

Life is what we make of it. Travel is the traveler. What we see isn't what we see but what we are.

My soul is a hidden orchestra; I know not what instruments, what fiddlestrings and harps, drums and tamboura I sound and clash inside myself. All I hear is the symphony.

The slope takes you to the windmill, but effort takes you nowhere.

We never love anyone. What we love is the idea we have of someone. It's our own concept—our own selves—that we love.

There are no norms. All people are exceptions to a rule that doesn’t exist.

Everything interests me, but nothing holds me.

I am nothing. I'll never be anything. I couldn't want to be something. Apart from that, I have in me all the dreams in the world.

It's been a long time since I've been me.

I bear the wounds of all the battles I avoided.

It is healthier to see the good points of others than to analyze our own bad ones.

All reading is good reading. And all reading of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens is sublime reading.

Many states can no longer afford to support public education, public benefits, public services without doing something about the exorbitant costs that mass incarceration have created.

Widows tend either to fade away when husbands die, committing emotional suttee, or else find that a new life burgeons. Here in Christchurch, a lot of burgeoning goes on.

If I could say it, I would not have to dance it.

My land, the power of training! Of influence! Of education! It can bring a body up to believe anything.

When you're trapped in an abusive home environment you can feel completely hopeless and lost. Remember that situations can change with time, and that it won't be this way forever.

After a few days [in Iceland] I tried to take a photograph. But with my attempt to distinguish the first shot, the place disappeared on me.... I hadn't been in Iceland long enough to simply be there.

Wasim and Waqar were amazing bowlers. I would put them right up there with the best in the world.

Capo, my first golden retriever, so loved to swim she once jumped off a cliff to get into Lake Superior.