“It is a bitter-sweet thing, knowing two cultures. Once you leave your birthplace nothing is ever the same.”

“You'd think the sight of beautiful Place Vendme would lift my spirits but oddly the arc of jewellery - so obviously beyond the means of a jobless person like me - only depresses me more. I plod on ...”

“The trail of lime trees outside our building is still a public loo. …where else are they supposed to go to the toilet in a city where public toilets are about as common as UFO sightings?” (pp.281-82)”

“You'd think the sight of beautiful Place Vendôme would lift my spirits but oddly the arc of jewellery - so obviously beyond the means of a jobless person like me - only depresses me more. I plod on...”

“Pride and power fall when the person falls, but discoveries of truth form legacies that can be built upon for generations.”

“While you were born with a self-worth and is a gift of God to you to begin your life with, your net worth is what you build here on earth and what you choose to do with the resources and gifts that...”

“An exceptional future can only be built on the transformation of the mess Ive made out of my past, not the elimination of that mess.”

“But youre out of another world old kid You ought to live on top of the Woolworth Building in an apartment made of cutglass and cherry blossoms.”

“[Poem: Slates of Grey]Sullen faces like slates of greyWhat Id seen on a walk today.Bodies rushing bodies boltingTime for life a disregarding.Money to make and to grow oldWhat about the hands to hol...”

“I would describe the distinction between city and landscape like this: cities tend to excite and agitate me; they make me feel big or small, self-confident, proud, curious, excited, tense, annoyed....”