"My still-life painting has more to do with light and shadow than with the objects themselves."

“Sometimes, surely, truth is closer to imagination or to intelligence, to love than to fact? To be accurate is not to be right.”

Source : Shirley Hazzard (2004). “The Evening of the Holiday: A Novel”, p.95, Macmillan

“The tragedy of sexual intercourse is the perpetual virginity of the soul.”

“I don't analyze what I'm doing. I've read convincing interpretations of my work, and sometimes I've noticed something that I wasn't aware of, but I think, at this point, people read into my work out of habit. Or I'm just very, very smart.”

“If people are worried about the size of their trailers, I kind of say their priorities are off.”

“You've gotta wonder what kind of vibe you're putting out there if you're having really creepy people come talk to you.”

“Trust in the inexhaustible character of the murmur.”

“My job is to support businesses, that means promoting British commerce in the big emerging markets that have been neglected in the past. It means keeping Britain open to inward investors, trade and skilled workers. It means cutting red tape which is suffocating growing companies which create jobs.”

“No man can instruct more than half-a-dozen students at once. The whole problem of education is one of its cost in money.”