Money makes people bold and cosmopolitan; if you are poor, you are naturally conservative. It's not easy to be a bohemian when you have to worry about what is going to happen with you and with your next paycheck.

I have absolute respect for Israel and people in Israel who are critical of their own country.

As a writer, you live in permanent self-doubt; you're on permanent trial.

People think that dreams are better than reality but this is not always the case; sometimes, because you dream too much, you are unable to see what you have in front of your very eyes.

There can be no better prize for a writer than one awarded by an international book fair.

If you're well-known, you're at the risk of becoming your own character. When you're alone, as a writer, you have to be unknown, putting it all on the paper.

Cervantes is the most important Spanish writer. But he is not the most representative of the Spanish. His irony, his sense of humor - they are too subtle to seem Spanish.

Shakespeare is a permanent presence in the English letters.

I have absolute respect for Israel and people in Israel who are critical of their own country,

A writer doesn't write about just anything. He writes about things he has an affinity for.