Birth is the start of loneliness and loneliness the start of poetry.

And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.

But we should ask the question: Why should a writer be more than a writer? Why should a writer be a guru? Why are we supposed to be psychiatrists? Isn't it enough to write and tell the truth? It's not like telling the truth is common. Writers are the earthworms of society. We aerate the soil. That's enough.

I actually think leaving your children alone to fantasize, to write, to make projects on their own is good for them. Breathing down their necks is a form of control. Children should have their own space.

I see that the greatest thing about getting older is how your judgment changes and how you come to understand the cycles of life. And you keep having these amazing flashes of understanding.

It's important to know what you're going to spend your life on, and the only way you're going to find that is by connecting with the force inside yourself.

Turning fifty ... is like flying: hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.