"Life: in all it's pain, misery, grandiosity and glory. I sing for myself, yet if others truly find inspiration through my words, then I have accidently done something brilliant in my life."

“Once you have your characters, they tell you what to write, you don't tell them.”

Source : "Alan Furst travels through the spy-ridden 'Shadows' of Europe" by Adam Dunn, www.cnn.com. January 19, 2001.

“How extraordinary it is to be here at all. Awareness of death can jolt us awake to the sensuality of existence. Breath is no longer a routine inhalation of air but a quivering intake of life. The eye is quickened to the play of light and shade and color, the ear to the intricate medley of sound. This is where the meditation leads. Stay with it; rest with it. Notice how distraction is a flight from this, an escape from awe to worry and plans.”

“The advice of a scholar, whose piles of learning were set on fire by imagination, is never to be forgotten. Proportion an hour's reflection to an hour's reading, and so dispirit the book into the student.”

“I always have melodies flowing in my head - whether I'm just at home, at the mall, at a restaurant or wherever. I'm always humming along to the random melodies that form in my head.”

“There’s no doubt in my mind that McMurphy’s won, but I’m not sure what.”

“Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable.”

Source : Margot Fonteyn (1979). “The magic of dance”, British Broadcasting Corp.

“No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.”

“I always say YCDA: you can do anything. If you want to be a successful actor, you have to believe in yourself more than anything else, and dont let anybody tell you that you cannot do it because you can.”