“I could write from anywhere, including the moon, provided I had a pencil and not a pen.”

“NASA spent millions of dollars inventing the ball-point pen so they could write in space. The Russians took a pencil.”

“I don't want to be pencilled in anywhere, pencil can be erased.”

“Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can't sharpen it on the plane, because you can't take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.”

“Before, I thought we could write about life only when we had recovered from our wounds; when we were able to touch old sores with a pen and not revive the pain; when we could look back free from nostalgia, madness, and a sense of grievance.But is this really possible? We are never completely cut off from our memory. Recollections provides the inspiration for writing, the stimulus for painting, and for some, the motivation even for death.”

“It was never what he had done,but always what he could do. And he had chosen to make his living with something else instead of a pen or a pencil”