At the time it seemed like a natural development of my interest in what was going on around me in society.

It's disturbing at my age to look at a young woman's destructive behaviour and hear the echoes of it, of one's own destructiveness in youth.

That's one of the things I hope that the book can do, is to restore some dignity to Joe Cinque.

The rain began again. It fell heavily, easily, with no meaning or intention but the fulfilment of its own nature, which was to fall and fall.

Writers seem to me to be people who need to retire from social life and do a lot of thinking about what's happened - almost to calm themselves.

I'm full of restlessness. Not lonely, exactly - my head is racing with ideas. But it is that old treacherous feeling that real life is happening somewhere else, and I'm left out.

I'm very disturbed by violence against women when it is violence.

But there are some wounds that can never be healed.

People demand a lot of the justice system and they demand things that it can't deliver.

I think writers are very anxious.

It's a terrific privilege to be able to see into somebody else's life.

There is no sweeter pleasure than wandering aimlessly about.

We can be knowledgable with other men's knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.

Sure I think it is healthy to speak the truth, and be who you are, and be proud of that.

To a writer, an open browser tab is like a glass of whiskey. 1 or 2 can help the work. Too many ensures that nothing gets done.

God has done more than I could ask or even imagine on more occasions than I could ever recount. His ways are higher than my ways. My ideas simply cannot compete with his.

Some of the days in November carry the whole memory of summer as a fire opal carries the color of moonrise.

The soul of man is like to water; from Heaven it cometh, to Heaven it riseth And then returning to earth, forever alternating.

Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.

The photograph annihilates the person.

We must succumb to the general influence of the times. No man can be of the tenth century, if he would; be must be a man of the nineteenth century.