“The May sunshine makes both the trolls and the elves disappear, he thought. They burst like soap bubbles. Only human beings remain, for a little while. We are a brief song beneath the sky, laughter in the wind that ends in a sigh. Then we too are gone.”

“Vertrouwen hebben in anderen zegt vooral veel over hoe stabiel je zelf bent.”

“If a serious statement is defined as one that may be made in terms of waking life, poetry will never rise to the level of seriousness. It lies beyond seriousness, on that more primitive and original level where the child, the animal, the savage, and the seer belong, in the region of dream, enchantment, ecstasy, laughter. To understand poetry we must be capable of donning the child's soul like a magic cloak and of forsaking man's wisdom for the child's.”

“The only thing humans are equal in is death.”

“To live is to war with trolls in heart and soul.To write is to sit in judgement on oneself.”

“The problem with call-in shows is quite simple, if you only dare to admit it: Democracy is best when not everyone can be heard all the time. If we are constantly reminded of all the stupid things that people say and think, it becomes rather difficult to remember the good and noble arguments for everyone to be able to participate and decide.”

“How desperate is it possible to be That's something that's never been researched. There are no statistics. There are no graphs to compare oneself with. No diagrams with uplifting figures. I could still change my mind. Go back to bed. It'll sort itself out all this I thought. No it won't I thought. It really won't.”