I am disturbed for instance when I read that a candidate said, 'I will not probe anybody or something like that'. You don't fight corruption by sweeping everything under the carpet, you don't.

Be yourself. Ultimately just be yourself.

Each time I think Ive created time for myself, along comes a throwback to disrupt my private space.

Mythology can be used, and has been used, even to re-state, you know, the very urgent problems of the world.

If I were sure I would pass the physicals, I would be on the next space shuttle to Mars or some other planet. I'll leave the calculations and the navigational tasks to you while I bask in your ingenuity. Find me a place in the capsule and watch me outdo Michael Jackson's moonwalk to the music of the spheres.

We live in a materialist world, and materialism appeals so strongly to humanity, no matter where.

What I teach is literary criticism and comparative literature and so on and that's my function, but from time to time it's possible for me actually to help a writer. I read something and something strikes me then, I feel I can talk to that writer about it.