“Well, my dear, there is love and there are stupidity and the two are quite closely related.”

“The solitude of writing is also quite frightening. It's quite close to madness, one just disappears for a day and loses touch.”

“Time is something you can't replace”

“My answer is: Recognize yourself in others”

“Nothing factual that I write or say will be as truthful as my fiction.”

“...with an understanding of Shakespeare there comes a release from the gullibility that makes you prey to the great shopkeeper who runs the world, and would sell you cheap to illusion.”

“What is the purpose of writing? For me personally, it is really to explain the mystery of life, and the mystery of life includes, of course, the personal, the political, the forces that make us what we are while there's another force from inside battling to make us something else.”