IN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: WHAT SCENES ONE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE FILMED Shakespeare in the part of the King's Ghost. The beheading of Louis the Sixteenth, the drums drowning his speech on the scaffold. Herman Melville at breakfast, feeling a sardine to his cat. Poe's wedding. Lewis Carroll's picnics. The Russians leaving Alaska, delighted with the deal. Shot of a seal applauding.

I adore you, mon petit, and would never allow him to hurt you, no matter how gently or madly.

A good laugh is the best pesticide.

I see again my schoolroom in Vyra, the blue roses of the wallpaper, the open window.… Everything is as it should be, nothing will ever change, nobody will ever die.

a person hoping to become a poet must have the capacity of thinking of several things at a time.

I have never seen a more lucid, more lonely, better balanced mad mind than mine.

Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.