“Whoever said that childhood is the happiest time of your life is a liar, or a fool.”

“One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn't have to understand something to feel it. By the time the mind is able to comprehend what has happened, the wounds of the heart are already too deep.”

“Wine turns the wise man into a fool and the fool into a wise man.”

“It's up to you how you waste your time and money. I'm staying here to read: life's too short.”

“A good liar knows that the most efficient lie is always a truth that has had a key piece removed from it.”

“Max had once read in one of his father's books that some childhood images become engraved in the mind like photographs, like scenes you can return to again and again and will always remember, no matter how much time goes by.”

“Why is it that the less one has to say the more one says it in the most pompous and pedantic way possible? Corelli asked. 'Is it to fool the world or just to fool themselves?”