With success came an ever-growing burden of responsibility. I lived with a near-constant low-level anxiety that I would make a mistake that would not only threaten my career but also my brothers' - not to mention the livelihoods of many people who work with us or for us.

When somebody has an enormous success in this culture people start asking two questions which are 'What are you doing now?' and 'How are you going to beat that?' And I have to say I love the assumption that your intention is to beat yourself constantly - that you're in battle against yourself.

Constant success shows us but one side of the world adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.

We're constantly striving for success fame and comfort when all we really need to be happy is someone or some thing to be enthusiastic about.

I push every day against forces that say you have to go faster be more effective be more productive you have to constantly outdo yourself you have to constantly outdo your neighbor - all of the stuff that creates an incredibly productive society but also a very neurotic one.

One would have to have completely forgotten the history of science so as to not remember that the desire to know nature has had the most constant and the happiest influence on the development of mathematics.

It's a source of great sadness to me that my father died without having seen me do anything worthwhile. He was constantly having to make excuses for me.

Our will makes constantly a sort of agreement with the world whereby if the world will continually show some respect to the will the will shall consent to be strenuous in its industry.

I am a person whose father had no religion but who went to the nuns for a couple of years. And I think I'm the same: On one hand I pray on the other hand I don't believe. I am constantly between the two.

When I'm not writing I read loads of fiction but I've been writing quite constantly lately so I've been reading a lot of nonfiction - philosophy religion science history social or cultural studies.