Nothing good ever happens by itself - it is achieved through striving, though this sometimes bears a high price.

I have spent a great deal of my life being part of minorities. Some of the people I admire the most in the world have had the courage to defend, against wind and tide, minority viewpoints in those frightening times when any disagreement with universal conformity is identified as treason.

One can criticize the Israeli government, but it is not fair to judge the people of Israel.

As a writer, you live in permanent self-doubt; youre on permanent trial.

Cervantes is the most important Spanish writer. But he is not the most representative of the Spanish. His irony, his sense of humor - they are too subtle to seem Spanish.

There are two types of stories: public and private.

A few British suffragettes everybody laughed at started the cause of equality between men and women.