There are writers who are great visionaries, who can depict huge movements - things like that. They're the great writers. I'm just the other kind.

I had girlfriends who really irritated me by their devotion to the Beatles. I didn't begrudge them their interest, and there were songs like 'Hey Jude' that I could appreciate. But they didn't seem to be essential to the kind of nourishment that I craved.

I like life on the road. It's a lot easier than civilian life. You kind of feel like you're in a motorcycle gang.

When things get really bad, just raise your glass and stamp your feet and do a little jig. That's about all you can do.

My two great heroes are W. B. Yeats and Federico García Lorca.

To apply oneself to great inventions, starting from the smallest beginnings, is no task for ordinary minds; to divine that wonderful arts lie hid behind trivial and childish things is a conception for superhuman talents.