A friend asked her doctor if a woman should have children after thirty-five. I said, "Thirty-five children is enough for any woman.
The problem is we don't understand the problem.
Suddenly, we humans - a recently arrived species, no longer subject to the checks and balances inherent in nature - have grown in population, technology and intelligence to a position of terrible power.
The only big ideas I've ever had came from daydreaming, but modern life keeps people from daydreaming. Every moment of the day your mind is being occupied, controlled by someone else - at school, at work, watching television. Getting away from all that is really important. You need to just kick back in a chair and let your mind daydream.
Anyone who's not interested in model airplanes must have a screw loose somewhere.
The only dumb question is the question you don't ask.
We're short on wisdom; we're high on technology. Where's it going to lead?
The 'Cheetah Generation' refers to the new and angry generation of young African graduates and professionals, who look at African issues and problems from a totally different and unique perspective.
There hung about her the restrained energy of a whiplash.
Time is built entirely on consensus: humans decide that they have linear time, so they do.
At John Schlesinger's funeral at a synagogue in St John's Wood some years ago the person I stood next to said to me encouragingly, 'Come on, Stephen - you're not singing. Have a go!' 'Believe me, Paul, you don't want me to,' I said. Besides, I was having a much better time listening to him. 'No. Go on!' So I joined in the chorus. 'You're right,' Paul McCartney conceded. 'You can't sing.