There's so much to be afraid of.

One of the great dreams of man must be to find some place between the extremes of nature and civilization where it is possible to live without regret.

My function as a writer is to provide an atmosphere in which people can think wisely about what we're doing on this planet.

If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox.

One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse.

Over the years, one comes to measure a place, too, not just for the beauty it may give, the balminess of its breezes, the insouciance and relaxation it encourages, the sublime pleasures it offers, but for what it teaches. The way in which it alters our perception of the human. It is not so much that you want to return to indifferent or difficult places, but that you want to not forget.

For so many centuries, the exchange of gifts has held us together. It has made it possible to bridge the abyss where language struggles.