I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That's what sitting on your ass does to your face.

If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn they will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

Let judges secretly despair of justice: their verdicts will be more acute. Let generals secretly despair of triumph; killing will be defamed. Let priests secretly despair of faith: their compassion will be true.

I always felt I was scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to get a song together.

I don't think you can write novels on the road. You need a certain stability.

We've got to temper anything we say with that. On the other hand, you've got to be serious about what you do. And you've got to understand the price you pay for frivolity or just for greed - it's a very high price, especially if you're involved in this sacred material, which is about the human heart and human desire and human tragedy.

Deprivation is the mother of poetry.