I've read there is no such thing as a single tear, that old poetic trope. And perhaps there isn't, since hers was simply a companion to my own.

In the end, I always act from the heart, even if I also value reason and tradition. I wish I could explain why, but I don't know.

If there is any good in life, in history, in my own past, I invoke it now. I invoke it with all the passion with which I have lived.

It was strange, I reflected.. that even in the weirdest circumstances, the most troubling episodes of one's life, the greatest divides from home and familiarity, there were these moments of undeniable joy.

As you know, human history is full of evil deeds, and maybe we ought to think of them with tears, not fascination.

Faith is simply whatever is real to us.

I think it's important to recognise that 'The Da Vinci Code' opened up a vast new audience for a general readership interested in historical detective stories and research into history.