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Outside their country, Hungarian directors have had, from the critics at least, a friendly reception.

There's prejudice and poverty in Hungary as there is in every country.

Philosophers, as things now stand, are all too fond of offering criticism from on high instead of studying and understanding things from within.

Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme specialization is a cover for either grave cerebral inadequacy or terminal laziness, the latter being a much cherished aspect of academic freedom.

It is our historical experience, that Hungary can only live in wealth and safety if Berlin, Moscow, and Ankara are on our side and also interested in our success - even if we do not always agree on certain questions.

Few are there that will leave the secure seclusion of the scholar's life, the peaceful walks of literature and learning, to stand out a target for the criticism of unkind and hostile minds.

Criticism in the universities, I'll have to admit, has entered a phase where I am totally out of sympathy with 95% of what goes on. It's Stalinism without Stalin.

I'm very drawn to Eastern Europe, so I like a Hungarian writer who wrote in French called Emil Cioran; he was always good for giving me such a stir.

To be clear and unequivocal, I can say that Islamisation is constitutionally banned in Hungary.