My mother said I broke her heart...but it was my integrity that was important. Is that so selfish? It sells for so little, but it's all we have left in this place. It is the very last inch of us...but within that inch we are free.

The multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon him... [from Macbeth]

I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it wasn’t for the opportunities the library gave me.

It has occurred to me that the superhero really only originates in America. That seems to be the only country that has produced this phenomenon.

Romantic poetry had its heyday when people like Lord Byron were kicking it large. But you try and make a living as a poet today, and you'll find it's very different!

I've never studied anything formally. I was excluded from school at the age of 17, so I am an autodidact, which is a word that I have taught myself.

For me, there is very little difference between magic and art. To me, the ultimate act of magic is to create something from nothing: It's like when the stage magician pulls the rabbit from the hat.