Writing is a constant exercise in longing.

You only have what you give. It’s by spending yourself that you become rich.

I try desperately to conquer the transitory nature of my existence, to trap moments before they evenesce, to untangle the confusion of my past. Every instant disappears in a breath and immediately becomes the past; reality is ephemeral and changing, pure longing.

Be careful what you ask of Heaven; it might be granted.

Most people feel younger than their age, but the culture values youth, success, beauty, productivity. There is no space in this culture for older people.

One of the characteristics of North American culture is that you can always start again. You can always move forward, cross a border of a state or a city or a county, and move West, most of the time West. You leave behind guilt, past traditions, memories. You are as if born again, in the sense of the snake: You leave your skin behind and you begin again. For most people in the world, that is totally impossible.

The slave who dances is free ... while he is dancing.