I never think of myself as wise. I think of myself as possessing a critical intelligence which I intend to allow to operate.

The speech we hear is an indication of that which we don't hear. It is a necessary avoidance, a violent, sly, and anguished or mocking smoke screen which keeps the other in its true place. When true silence falls we are left with echo but are nearer nakedness. One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.

While The United States is the most powerful nation the world has ever seen, it is also the most detested nation that the world has ever known.

When you lead a life of scholarship you can't be bothered with the humorous realities, you know, tits, that kind of thing.

I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth - certainly greater than sex, although sex isn't too bad either.

Beckett had an unerring light on things, which I much appreciated.

There are some things one remembers even though they may never have happened.