I assemble my ideas in pieces on a computer file, then gradually find a place for them on a piece of scaffolding I erect.

A danger of travel is that we see things at the wrong time, before we have had a chance to build up the necessary receptivity and when new information is therefore as useless and fugitive as necklace beads without a connecting chain.

It's very hard to respect people on holiday - everybody looks so silly at the beach, it makes you hate humanity - but when you see people at their work they elicit respect, whether it's a mechanic, a stonemason or an accountant.

The inability to live in the present lies in the fear of leaving the sheltered position of anticipation or memory, and so of admitting that this is the only life that one is ever likely (heavenly intervention aside) to live.

The more dignity is widely and freely available in a society, the less people want to be famous.

Many moments in religion seem attractive to me even though I can't believe in any of it.

Reputation matters so much only because people so seldom think for themselves.