I get up at an unholy hour in the morning my work day is completed by the time the sun rises. I have a slightly bad back which has made an enormous contribution to American literature.

It was important on The Shipping News to have my house far enough away from each location so I had this time in the morning to think about my shots and still remain open to surprises once I got to the set.

Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long you miss them.

There is a basic lesson on financial crises that governments tend to wait too long underestimate the risks want to do too little. And it ultimately gets away from them and they end up spending more money causing much more damage to the economy.

Now people look at 'The Scream' or Van Gogh's 'Irises' or a Picasso and see its new content: money. Auction houses inherently equate capital with value.

Men think highly of those who rise rapidly in the world whereas nothing rises quicker than dust straw and feathers.

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects because men are equally free they claim to be absolutely equal.

Against the State against the Church against the silence of the medical profession against the whole machinery of dead institutions of the past the woman of today arises.

A marriage without conflicts is almost as inconceivable as a nation without crises.

One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others can use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.