In a world where meaning is often absent or imposed, reading offers a dialogue with ourselves, with society, with history, and with the dead.

We fear passion and laugh at too much love and those who love too much. And still we long to feel.

One of the problems with watching TV is that you've got a fairly low level of language operating all the time. Quite a small vocabulary and really no conceptual or abstract thinking. That's an issue. If you've got a wide vocabulary, you can learn. The complexities of grammar, in themselves, force you to think about time in a particular way. Force you to widen your outlook on the world.

Sometimes I think of you and I feel giddy. Memory makes me lightheaded, drunk on champagne. All the things we did. And if anyone has said this was the price I would have agreed to pay it. That surprises me; that with the hurt and the mess comes a shift of recognition. It was worth it. Love is worth it.

The free man never thinks of escape.

What you eat is the most political thing you do every day

Ordinary professionalism and 20 years' experience can accomplish a lot, but it can't access the hidden places.