Publishing is in a kind of Jurassic age.

MySpace is an addiction.

Writers are lampposts and critics are dogs. Ask lampposts what they think about dogs. Does the dog hurt the lamppost?

I hate to be smart.

The only thing that relaxes me is archery. That's why I have to have apartments with gardens. 

Once I found this possibility to use Twitter and Facebook and my blog to connect to my readers, I'm going to use it, to connect to them and to share thoughts that I cannot use in the book.

About the idea of a clash between cultures, between civilisations, I don't believe in it. It's something some political leaders tried to use, and that the media tried and are still trying to sell us, in order to simplify the world and their work.

Writing means sharing. It's part of the human condition to want to share things - thoughts, ideas, opinions.

I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfil our destiny, but our fate is sealed.

We have lost contact with reality, the simplicity of life.

“No, I never saw an angel, but it is irrelevant whether I saw one or not. I feel their presence around me.”

“What hurts us is what heals us.”

 “When someone leaves, it’s because someone else is about to arrive.” –

 “The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”

Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.

Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.

The more violent the storm, the quicker it passes.

You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.

“People never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves.”

“People are never satisfied. If they have a little, they want more. If they have a lot, they want still more. Once they have more, they wish they could be happy with little, but are incapable of making the slightest effort in that direction.”

There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.” 

“You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.

It took me 40 years to write my first book. When I was a child, I was encouraged to go to school. I was not encouraged to follow the career of a writer because my parents thought that I was going to starve to death.

I don't go to parties in general.