One of the many things nobody ever tells you about middle age is that it's such a nice change from being young.

That was the strength of the Nazis, she said. They understood God better than anyone. They knew how to make him stay away.

Kurt Vonnegut

All true language is incomprehensible, like the chatter of a beggar's teeth.

Antonin Artaud

I still absolutely love 'The Sound of Music' and anything with Julie Andrews in it.

Kristin Scott Thomas

You might think that the Left could have a regime-change perspective of its own, based on solidarity with its comrades abroad. After all, Saddam's ruling Ba'ath Party consolidated its power by first destroying the Iraqi communist and labor movements, and then turning on the Kurds (whose cause, historically, has been one of the main priorities of the Left in the Middle East). When I first became a socialist, the imperative of international solidarity was the essential if not the defining thing, whether the cause was popular or risky or not. I haven't seen an anti-war meeting all this year at which you could even guess at the existence of the Iraqi and Kurdish opposition to Saddam, an opposition that was fighting for 'regime change' when both Republicans and Democrats were fawning over Baghdad as a profitable client and geopolitical ally. Not only does the 'peace' movement ignore the anti-Saddam civilian opposition, it sends missions to console the Ba'athists in their isolation, and speaks of the invader of Kuwait and Iran and the butcher of Kurdistan as if he were the victim and George W. Bush the aggressor.

Christopher Hitchens

What do I think of L.A.? It's boring, with some amazing nuggets. Like there are some parts of it that are great, but by and large I think it's quite boring.

Jemaine Clement

I would be more frightened as a writer if people thought my movies were like science fiction.

Neil LaBute

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

Anatole France

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another

Plato

You have a great heart, but will only find it to be so through great pain. This is the wisdom of love, and its doubtful gift. . . . I have endured much suffering and still remain unbitter and unclosed.

Alison Croggon

In the fall the war was always there but we did not go to it any more.

Ernest Hemingway

The best way will be to avoid each other without appearing to do so -- or if we jostle, at any rate not to bite.

Lord (George Gordon) Byron

One of the consequences of the Iranian revolution has been an explosion of history. A country once known only from British consular reports and intrepid travelogues is now awash with historical documents, letters, diaries, grainy video, weblogs and secret police files of questionable authenticity.

James Buchan