“Writing comes more easily if you have something to say.”

“To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are.”

“Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.”

“I love the place; the magnificent books; I require books as I require air.”

“You see how it is, my dear friends. There's no pleasing everyone. It's hopeless to even try, and the more you play the peacemaker, the less peaceful things become.”

“I never turn down a drink. Among friend's it's always appropriate. A man is only a man as they say but brandy is still brandy. You'll find that in the Talmud too.”

“There is nothing in the world, I tell you, so maddening as a person who doesn't answer when you abuse him. You shout and you scold, you are ready to burst a gut, and he stands there and smiles....”