Africa was the most exotic place I could conceive of - the end of the world - and I knew I would go there one day.

They pondered the importance of coffee in silence.

He was so excessively polite that Wallendar suspected he had endured many humiliations in his life.

It was a clear, starry night, dead calm. Whenever I see a sky like that, I wish I could write music

I know paradise has many gates, just as hell does. One has to learn to distinguish between them, or one is lost.

Shakespeare is in many ways an African writer and 'Hamlet' would be seen as a very accurate historical saga about an African kingdom.

I am not afraid of dying. I have lived longer than most people in the world. What scares me is to have a body that works but a brain that is waving goodbye. If that happens, I hope I die quickly.