"A humble soul understands that shadows are only cast by the presence of light."

"The only limit to human potential is the light of knowledge dispels the darkness of ignorance."

"A dream nurtured by daily toil will inevitably outshine a wish born of idle hope. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Imagination is a poor matter when it has to part company with understanding."

"I didn't really want to live, so anything that was an investment in time made me angry... but also I just felt sad. When the hopelessness is hurting you, it's the fixtures and fittings that finish you off."

"You can cry about death and very properly so, your own as well as anybody else's. But it's inevitable, so you'd better grapple with it and cope and be aware that not only is it inevitable, but it has always been inevitable, if you see what I mean."

"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like."

"What I really tried to do with Helen was make her show this sad side of her. She was married off at 16, was so young and living in this castle that can't leave because of how she looks, and married to a man she hates and three times her age."