Americans tended to think of war as something that had to be done from time to time, for a particular purpose or goal. They fought not for the sake of fighting but for the sake of winning.

The only creature less fashionable in academia than the stereotypical 'dead white male,' is the dead white male on horseback.

It was easy to imagine he’d just rolled out of bed and then it was easy to imagine him in bed and I wasn’t going there.

I wouldn't encourage new writers to start off publishing through electronic media... it still isn't wide enough for the readership they would need to get a good start

That's life. You've got to deal with it, good and bad. We'll be all right. I mean, if we make the chase, we make it. If we don't, we don't.

As a girl - twelve, thirteen years old - I was absolutely certain that a good book had to have a man as its hero, and that depressed me.

I believe in love. I think it just hits you and pulls the rug out from underneath you and, like a baby, demands your attention every minute of the day.

Love has more depth as you get older.

Few parents teach their children how phoney the ads on TV are, how many lies and exaggerations they contain. How could they? These parents were also raised on television ballyhoo.

One can not understand language because language cannot understand itself; does not want to understand

Our ability to destroy ourselves is the mirror image of our ability to save ourselves.

I love various sports, including basketball, tennis and billiards.