The modern superstition is that we're free of superstition.

George Orwells 1984 frequently tops surveys of our greatest books: its not a celebration of poetic language. Its decidedly anti-literary, a masterpiece of personal and political narrative sequence. And its subject matter is crucial, because what 1984 shows is that language can be a dirty trick.

I am less interested in ghosts than in people who see ghosts.

No one needs a first edition. Whoever wrote it; even if it was Moses.

Rome is a place almost worn out by being looked at, a city collapsing under the weight of reference.

Twenty years is, after all, a long time. We are not the same people we were. Old friends, lovers, even family members: they are strangers who happen to wear a familiar face. We have no right to claim to know anyone after such a distance.

Why can’t our job here on earth be simply to inspire each other?