Every writer must acknowledge and be able to handle the unalterable fact that he has, in effect, given himself a life sentence in solitary confinement.

I generally wade in blind and trust to fate and instinct to see me through.

Fear and I were old buddies, despite my best efforts to the contrary.

Intellectual labor is a common technique for the avoidance of thinking.

The world is full of ghosts, and some of them are still people.

What was the worst thing you've ever done? I won't tell you that, but I'll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me...the most dreadful thing.

My first real breakthrough collided with the last months of Callaghan's Labour government, which had every intention of enjoying my success as much as I did.

Occasionally.. .what you have to do is go back to the beginning and see everything in a new way.

If I planned everything out in advance, I'd expire of boredom.

An average working day begins at 8 or 9 am, includes an hour for lunch, and ends at 5 or 6 pm.

I had a connoisseur's... appreciation of fear.

Never mind your happiness do your duty.

Of course, relative citation frequencies are no measure of relative importance. Who has not aspired to write a paper so fundamental that very soon it is known to everyone and cited by no one?

If this country [America] is to survive, the best-fed-nation myth had better be recognized for what it is: propaganda designed to produce wealth not health.

And since geometry is the right foundation of all painting, I have decided to teach its rudiments and principles to all youngsters eager for art. . .

No Victor, you got it backwards, you should evaluate these integrals non-rigorously if you can, and rigorously if you must.

The printed page transcends space and time. The printed page, the infinity of the book, must be transcended.

Some of the best stuff can be written out of dire times

Book tours are excellent things, and one is lucky to get to go on one, but they have a way of leeching away one's will to live.

I'm a teen-age bride.

Grey is the devil's favorite color.