What inspires me most to write is the act of traveling.

I grew up in Cyprus and Egypt, these fantastic places I remember fondly.

I do no writing while I'm in Belgrade visiting my grandma.

For me it was a lot harder to come to terms with the death of my grandfather than it was to come to terms with what's happened to the former Yugoslavia.

The best fiction stays with you and changes you.

My grandfather and I were very close.

A family has its own rituals and its own superstitions.

Come on, is your heart a sponge or a fist?

We're all entitled to our superstitions.

My mother always says that fear and pain are immediate, and that, when they're gone we're left with the concept, but not the true memory.

I've always written about animals. I'm still trying to process why that is.

So this had been all I wanted, a boy who understood how I felt. Now, though, I sometimes wished for more.

Thank God for imminent doomsday.

Lampard, as usual, arrived in the nick of time, but it wasn't quite soon enough.

I intend to put up with nothing that I can put down.

Serendipity. Look for something, find something else, and realize that what you've found is more suited to your needs than what you thought you were looking for.

I still hope that the American system of checks and balances will ultimately prevent this man, Donald Trump, with his erratic political style, from jeopardizing our European security architecture.

It is a strange world," I murmered, more to myself than to the native soul. "The strangest," he agreed.

Cats aren't special advisers. They advise us all the time, whether we want them to or no.

I admire traveling; I appreciate it a lot.

I was at the foot of my class.