In fact, I thought my calling was to be a painter.

I wanted to remember the original energy; strip away all the glamour and limousines and tons of drugs. I wanted to get back to the revolutionary ideas, merging poetry and rhythm and rock and roll.

Everyone thinks of God as a man - you can't help it - Santa Claus was a man, therefore God has to be a man.

These are the times, the times of our own, these are the shapes the world we formed.

The film [Dream of Life] doesn't hide anything, except maybe moments of sorrow or darkness that belonged to me.

Arthur Conan Doyle had to be Sherlock Holmes in order to envision how Sherlock Holmes would unravel a mystery. He had to be in Sherlock's situations. As a writer, you have to be of two minds.

When I was young, I knew William Burroughs really well. And William's secret desire, which he never quite did, was to write a straightforward detective novel.