I wanted to invent an engine that could run for ever. I could have developed a new train, had I stayed in the railway. It would have looked like the AK-47 though.

I was trying to perform as best as possible. I was a boy at the time, but worked well with the sickle.

Life can make you do many things, even kiss a man with a runny nose.

We had grain but no mills, so I designed a special mill of wood so we could make flour.

I made it to protect the motherland.

Life is composed of different inventions.

I was probably born with some designing abilities.

The negative side is that sometimes it is beyond control.

I'm proud of my invention, but I'm sad that it is used by terrorists.

I have continued to work at different things, and rebuilt my home all by myself. I did it for the sake of satisfaction at doing something. I did it because I happened to be where I was.

I tried a dozen different modifications that were rejected. But they all served as a path to the final design.

I wanted to invent an engine that could run for ever. I could have developed a new train, had I stayed in the railway. It would have looked like the AK-47 though.

I had to gain experience as I did not have a technical education.

Man keeps inventing things all the time.

Terrorists also want to use simple and reliable arms.

I shot with it a lot. I still do now. That is why I am hard of hearing.

Any designer believes his gun is the best, and when its test performance is a bit less impressive compared to others, he feels bitterness and envy.

For years, I had a top secret clearance and never left Russia. Just once did I go to Bulgaria with my wife for a holiday at the Golden Sands resort, but I could not mention my real name. I was allowed to travel abroad only in the early 1990s.

I do not consider the AK to be the best-ever assault rifle.

Life is composed of different inventions. I have continued to work at different things and rebuilt my home all by myself. I did it for the sake of satisfaction at doing something.

People often ask me how I feel about my invention being used to kill people every day and the AK being a common weapon of ethnic conflicts. I want to make it clear that I created my assault rifle to protect my country. You can blame politicians for its spreading out of control on a global scale.

The fact that people die because of an AK-47 is not because of the designer, but because of politics.

Before the military coup in Chile, we had the idea that military coups happen in Banana Republics, somewhere in Central America. It would never happen in Chile. Chile was such a solid democracy. And when it happened, it had brutal characteristics.

To keep the body in good health is a duty€¦ otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.

I realized very early the power of food to evoke memory, to bring people together, to transport you to other places, and I wanted to be a part of that.

I've always been excited by rotoscoping, the technique used in films like 'Waking Life,' which fuses animation with real-life emotion. It seemed like it was a process ripe for innovation.

A computer shall not waste your time or require you to do more work than is strictly necessary.

It's always the paragraphs I loved most, the ones I tenderly polished and re-read with pride, that my editor will suggest cutting.

Paris is beautiful, but nothing beats home.

I used to do ballet all the time, and I do this ballet workout: it is an amazing thing called Barrecore. It is like pulsing. It turns your legs into, like, jelly, and you feel like a Bambi; you lose so much control over your body because you're pulsing so much.

With true beauty, there is no illusion.

So I'm still doing my best to stay in shape and hope that opportunity will come back to me.

I'm drawn to punk. I'm drawn to samba a bit. I don't think there's a type of music I'm not drawn to. Lykke Li I really like. Holy Sons I still can't get enough of.

I pledged to become the world's greatest expert in a field I knew nothing about.

I'm never comfortable at theatre opening nights. If it's my own production I'm too wound up to be able to enjoy the performance and too wary to enjoy the event as a social occasion.

Find out what you're afraid of and go live there.

There must be something in the water in Minnesota because historically, despite its seemingly homogeneous population, the state has produced some of our more radical political thinkers, and its people have put their prejudices aside to vote for them.

People often can't separate, or can't understand, that to be funny is to be serious; it's a way of pulling people in and not scaring them off. I think a lot of the funny stuff, underneath it, there's a deep anxiety going on.

Just try to be happy. Unhappiness starts with wanting to be happier.

It seems ridiculous that you can be in one state with your driver's license and buy a firearm, and then in the next state it is totally illegal. There are real problems to that, but as soon as you bring up the subject and say 'gun control,' it sets a red flag.

The New York Public Library is a wonderful gem. I go there to get away from the bustle of the city. They have an incredible collection of menus from all over the city.

The magnificent cause of being, the imagination, the one reality in this imagined world.

I never look at my watch when I'm sketching!

The word 'suffering' is not in my vocabulary.

The writing life is essentially one of solitary confinement - if you can't deal with this, you needn't apply.

It was a challenging experience. I'm looking forward to a break.