My child died last night—and now I shall be alone again, if I must really go on living. They will come tomorrow, strange, hulking, black-clad men bringing a coffin, and they will put him in it, my poor boy, my only child.

Being sent to bed is a terrible command to all children, because it means the most public possible humiliation in front of adults, the confession that they bear the stigma of childhood, of being small and having a child's need for sleep.

Life is just a reminder that death is always there.

Everyone is good at something as long as they love that something.

When you have nothing nobody knows you. When you have something everyone knows you. If you're not willing to give that something up, everybody loathes you.

My father always told me, "Find a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life.