Obviously, you would give your life for your children, or give them the last biscuit on the plate. But to me, the trick in life is to take that sense of generosity between kin, make it apply to the extended family and to your neighbour, your village and beyond.

I've never written an original piece for film; all the original things I've done are for the stage.

Back in the East you can't do much without the right papers, but with the right papers you can do anything The believe in papers. Papers are power.

Well, we'll know better next time.

My work always tried to unite the true with the beautiful; but when I had to choose one or the other, I usually chose the beautiful.

Maturity is a high price to pay for growing up.

The ordinary-sized stuff which is our lives, the things people write poetry about—clouds—daffodils—waterfalls—what happens in a cup of coffee when the cream goes in—these things are full of mystery, as mysterious to us as the heavens were to the Greeks.