Words have a life; without response they die.

There must be a lot of people in the world being wondered about by people who don't see them anymore.

Language is an archaeological vehicle... the language we speak is a whole palimpsest of human effort and history.

After all, when you come right down to it, how many people speak the same language even when they speak the same language?

But when I don't smoke I scarcely feel as if I'm living. I don't feel as if I'm living unless I'm killing myself.

Nothing to be done really about animals. Anything you do looks foolish. The answer isn't in us. It's almost as if were put here on earth to show how silly they aren't.

When you suffer an attack of nerves you're being attacked by the nervous system. What chance has a man got against a system?.

The things that matter don't necessarily make sense.

Explorers have to be ready to die lost.

An idea is an eye given by God for the seeing of God. Some of these eyes we cannot bear to look out of; we blind them as quickly as possible.

And now it seems she's on my wavelength. That's all I need. My mind isn't much of a comfort to me but at least I thought it was private.

A life without enemies is a life not lived.

Travel makes a wise man better, and a fool worse.

He liked books if they were books of information and had pictures of grain elevators or of fat foreign children doing exercises in model schools.

I mean . . . who was it that said if the door is locked, find a window. If the windows locked, well . . . break it. If it won't break then find a freaking sledgehammer and make a new one.

"Grandmother" doesn't mean that you have gray hair and you retire and stay home cooking cakes for your grandchildren.

The dead carry with them to the grave in their clutched hands only that which they have given away.

There was a time when we would pick up Women's Wear Daily and couldn't wait to see what it read. And now, you get it five minutes later on your iPad or your phone! The same has to apply to fashion.

The most dangerous of our calculations are those we call illusions.

You don't have to be religious to have a soul; everybody has one. You don't have to be religious to perfect your soul; I have found saintliness in avowed atheists.

I don't really have preferred roles except those with some complexity.