Civilization is a fiction which becomes a fact only as long as everyone can believe in it. It is the cynic, rather than the rebel, who pulls down the whole flimsy structure periodically throughout history.

There's always trouble in the Middle East. I can't recall any time in my life when there hasn't been trouble there.

Habit is far stronger than the lessons of experience.

Falling in love is like religious conversion. It goes on for a long time below the threshold before it reaches consciousness.

the true and the plausible are rarely the same.

Every criminal leaves psychic fingerprints. And he can't wear gloves to hide them.

Other people's children, like other people's love affairs, were so much less interesting than one's own.