He was not oppressed by a crowd because in the midst of all the hullabaloo he always found a quiet place for his soul.

The world is a very unjust, unfair place and we have to live with that. Historically, there is impunity for most crimes.

When you make an omelet, as when you make love, affection counts for more than technique.

I carry around a little stool to stand on when people want a picture with their cellular phones.

A novel is achieved with hard work, the short story with inspiration.

Music is a wind that blows away the years, memories, and fear, that crouching animal I carry inside me.

I was born in the middle of the Second World War when the United States dropped their atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when millions of people were dying in concentration camps, when half the planet were colonies that belonged to empires. The word feminism didn't exist. And in my lifetime I have seen all these things improved, changed. We are more connected, more informed. We can fight against stuff together in ways we couldn't before.