A story begins and it always passes from the subjunctive to the declarative. And Italians don't seem to care about making a fine distinction between that which is speculation and that which is fact.

I just go to lunch. And I never know when something is going into the file and something is not.

I have always had a particular antagonism for the military.

I never know what's going to happen in a novel. I don't have a plan or an outline.

And off in the far distance, the gold on the wings of the angel atop the bell tower of San Marco flashed in the sun, bathing the entire city in its glistening benediction.

Venetians feel affection and loyalty to their city, rather than to the Italian state.

This is a fallen world. People lie, the truth gets distorted, and that's the way it is. What's for dinner ?

All through graduate school, instead of having a television I read murder mysteries: Hammett, Chandler, Ruth Rendell, P. D. James.

Oh, so seldom does fate cast our enemy into our hands, to do with as we will

And I don't want to live anywhere where I am famous. It makes me very, very uncomfortable, because it conveys an advantage over people, and I don't like that.

I never wanted to be rich or successful or famous. I just wanted to be happy and have fun.

Those who know how one should die knew how one should live.

We have a responsibility to disobey and violate unjust rules and laws.

I cannot imagine a more perfect hell than being trapped inside my own mind.

It begins with absence and desire. It begins with blood and fear. It begins with a discovery of witches.

By their very nature bureaucracies have no conscience, no memory, and no mind.

Bin Laden says his own role is to tell Muslims, quote, 'what is good for them and what is not.'

With madness, as with vomit, it's the passerby who receives the inconvenience.

If I have any regrets, I could say that I'm sorry I wasn't a better writer or a better singer.

The most urgent task is that of the biblical and liturgical formation of the people of God.

Condoms aren't completely safe. A friend of mine was wearing one and got hit by a bus.