Once you have been in an earthquake you know, even if you survive without a scratch, that like a stroke in the heart, it remains in the earth's breast, horribly potential, always promising to return, to hit you again, with an even more devastating force.

I'm a reader of Chinese literature, I like their films, but also: I've had great difficulty getting my work published in China; very little of it has been published there. The first two attempts to have all of my work published, for instance, were refused without any reason ever being given.

optimism is a disease

You start at the stupid end of the book, and if you're lucky you finish at the smart end.

‎No people whose word for 'yesterday' is the same as their word for 'tomorrow' can be said to have a firm grip on the time.

I think that a lot of us, whether we are religious or not - there are no words to express some things except religious words. For instance, 'soul.'

If I were asked for a one-sentence sound bite on religion, I would say I was against it.