we can forgive anything as long as it isn't done to us.

I don't see why escapist literature shouldn't also be a work of art.

I learned early and at that kitchen table that there are ways of avoiding, without guilt, the commitments of love.

Childhood is the one prison from which there's no escape, the one sentence from which there's no appeal. We all serve our time.

I love the idea of bringing order out of disorder which is what the mystery is about. I like the way in which it affirms the sanity of human life and exorcises irrational guilts.

There are two options for any society: total prohibition as in a totalitarian state, or total license. Both avoid the ardours of decision. Both have the attraction of certainty. The difficult option is to decide where the line should be drawn and this, surely, is the responsiblity of any civilized and democratic country.

There is no point in regretting any part of the past. The past can't now be altered, the future has yet to be lived, and consciously to experience every moment of the present is the only way to gain at least the illusion of immortality.