At eighty things do not occur; they recur.

A bookshelf is as particular to its owner as are his or her clothes; a personality is stamped on a library just as a shoe is shaped by the foot.

Art comes out of art; it begins with imitation, often in the form of parody, and it's in the process of imitating the voice of others that one comes to learn the sound of one's own.

Children always assume the sexual lives of their parents come to a grinding halt at their conception.

A book is a device to ignite the imagination.

Above literature?' said the Queen. 'Who is above literature? You might as well say one was above humanity.

I was an only child. I lost both my parents. By the time I was twenty I was bald. I'm homosexual. In the way of circumstances and background to transcend I had everything an artist could possibly want. It was practically a blueprint.