"Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day."

“Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.”

“I think that the American people should rest assured and be assured that every federal agency that has a role to play in this terrorism is working overtime now, taking every necessary action to protect our great citizens.”

Source : "America's New War: Responding to Terrorism". "Larry King Live", edition.cnn.com. October 1, 2001.

“I make the music as if I was scoring it. I do my best that the sounds will fit the theme of that track, but then there are many other times where it can be random and things happen for no reason, just for fun! A storyline can let me organize changes in the music better, like acts in a play.”

“Maydens, be they never so foolyshe, yet beeing fayre they are commonly fortunate.”

“I don't judge in my books. I don't have to have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It's just how it comes out. I'm just telling a story.”

“Isn't it grand, isn't it good, that language has only one word for everything we associate with love - from utter sanctity to the most fleshly lust? The result is perfect clarity in ambiguity, for love cannot be disembodied even in its most sanctified forms, nor is it without sanctity even at its most fleshly. Love is always simply itself, both as a subtle affirmation of life and as the highest passion; love is our sympathy with organic life.”

“War is not the continuation of policy. It is the breakdown of policy.”

“I'm at that age where I watch such things with two minds, one that cackles at these capers and another that never gets much beyond a rather jaded and self-conscious smile, like the Mona Lisa.”

Source : Alan Bradley (2016). “The Flavia de Luce Series 7-Book Bundle”, p.488, Delacorte Press