My exile was not only a physical one, motivated exclusively by political reasons; it was also a moral, social, ideological and sexual exile.

A contemporary artist can use the findings of all epochs and all styles, from the most primitive literary expressions up to the most refined products of the baroque.

In times when religious or political faith or hope predominates, the writer functions totally in unison with society, and expresses society's feelings, beliefs, and hopes in perfect harmony.

As I began to discover my own truth and endeavored to possess it with clarity, I became more and more alienated from that which my companions held, or professed to hold.

And with each day that passed, the gulf broadened and my isolation became more accentuated. In such a situation, the discovery that my experience was not unique, that it had also been that of other Spanish intellectuals, became very important for me.

The writer cannot abandon himself simply to inspiration, and feign innocence vis a vis language, because language is never innocent.

In Count Julian I simply proposed to create a text which would allow for diverse levels of reading.

Marks of Identity is, among other things, the expression of the process of alienation in a contemporary intellectual with respect to his own country.

But the Spain which emerged around 1960, beginning with its economic miracle, created by the invasion of tourists, can no longer result in impassioned dedication on the part of its intellectuals, and even less on the part of foreign intellectuals.

When I write now I do not invent situation, characters, or actions, but rather structures and discursive forms, textual groupings which are combined according to secret affinities among themselves, as in architecture or the plastic arts.

And it is because a series of elements in Spanish life which operate today the same way as they did in the times of Blanco White made obvious my relationship with him, based on a similarity in Spain's condition.

In my opinion, the most significant works of the twentieth century are those that rise beyond the conceptual tyranny of genre; they are, at the same time, poetry, criticism, narrative, drama, etc.

My exile was not only a physical one, motivated exclusively by political reasons; it was also a moral, social, ideological and sexual exile.

I not only lived physically away from my native land, but the values and critical judgments of those closest to me became stranger and stranger.

In the Europe which was created by the Second World War, divided into two blocks, each in need of a revolution that would end the abuses and injustices of capitalism and the privileges of a bureaucratic caste, collective faith does not exist.

For a country is not merely a piece of earth; it is, above all, a compendium of social, cultural, and historical factors which begin to acquire sense and order through the process of writing.

The fundamental purpose of a novel like Count Julian is to achieve the unity of object and means of representation, the fusion of treason as scheme and treason as language.

The relationship between a client must be 'we.'

As most people know, I am a vampire, so I have no reflection. Every day, I paste a picture of someone else on the mirror.

I removed 'cyberspace' from my vernacular. The idea, which I grew up with, of going into a place separate from the real world, is something my students just don't recognise.

I think most music provides the same messages - whether it be 'I'm unhappy' or 'I love a girl.' I just liked the package of rap music.

Personally, it's a comfort and happiness to know that my work is taken seriously and is not marginalised and put in a box of ethnic immigrant writing in America.

There are so many times there could have been a left turn instead of a right turn in all people's lives. I think mine are pretty crystal clear, because of being adopted, being born in Ethiopia, being adopted to Sweden.

Some people still see me as a kid, but I'm a 23-year-old woman now.

Decades later I would look into my father's eyes and try to reach past the murkiness of Alzheimer's with my words, my apology, hoping that in his heart he heard me and understood.

We are competing against ourselves.

Work on the accent, it will enliven the whole.

And I enjoyed the celebrity and the creativity that was involved in Star Trek.

In the rush to become all things to all people, the federal government has lost sight of its core responsibilities. As a result we're stuck in this frustrating paradox where Washington actually neglects things it's clearly supposed to be doing, while interfering in other areas where they are neither welcome nor authorized.

I can walk through the front door of any factory and out the back and tell you if it's making money or not. I can just tell by the way it's being run and by the spirit of the workers.

After I met my partner, Mr. Protherow, we decided to start a banking project, and at the same time we started to think already about a business on a bigger scale. At the very beginning we thought more about gaining money, to have a normal life with our families, etc.

I always seemed to fall in love with policemen.

A lot of things that I can't get into the room for, even just to be seen, is because they're just saying 'No. they're not casting non-white.' You're lumped into a category with people who are just not white.

Vacuuming is great. I do the laundry. I love washing machines. I'm the maid in my house.

As labor creates the wealth of the country, we demand the passage of such laws as may be necessary to protect it in all its rights.

I didn't even have pierced ears. They put four holes in each ear, and, weirdly, that hurt the most.

A wise man never regrets the questions he asks. Only the ones he didn’t ask.

As anyone who has tinnitus knows, it's not something that you can ignore, and you have to deal with it on a daily basis.

If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's.

The people will believe what the media tells them they believe.

I'm an Englishman who did a film on Mogadishu, 'Black Hawk Down.'