We praise the strength, the patience and the longing of the people who did not stop thinking of freedom and democracy in these dark times

Germany has acted effectively during the euro crisis. It needs to build on this to engage in other spheres too.

There is no German identity without Auschwitz.

Women prefer speaking to talking.

I am building a stairway to the stars. I have the authority to take the whole of mankind up there with me. That is why I write.

The poet wants justice. And the poet wants art. In poetry we can't have one without the other.

What I can't be is monogamous. That tends to upset people. I just don't like domestic life.

People in cars cause accidents and accidents in cars cause people.

I grew up near Disneyland, and my brother's an animator, so I was always really inspired by bright, cartoony colors and that whole feeling of happiness.

I hope to work through disappointment and frustration with as much grace as [Georgia] O'Keeffe did, and I hope to have the same confidence in my own vision.

Every parent can imagine the joys of child abuse.

Living at the beach, it's hard to get out of the sun.

The swift years slip and slide adown the steep; The slow years pass; neither will come again.