Faulkner turned out to be a great teacher. When a student asked a question ineptly, he answered the question with what the student had really wanted to know.

There are things in American culture that want to wipe the class distinction. Blue jeans. Ready-made clothes. Coca-Cola.

Henry Miller wrote novels, but he calls his protagonist Henry, often Henry Miller, and his books are in this gray area between memoir and novel.

I long for the raised voice, the howl of rage or love.

I think the pattern of my essays is, A funny thing happened to me on my way through Finnegans Wake.

Gertrude Stein really thought of Hemingway as frail. He almost married Stein.

The text is merely one of the contexts of a piece of literature, its lexical or verbal one, no more or less important than the sociological, psychological, historical, anthropological or generic.

Raymond Carver is good. I think he'll be appreciated more and more. He's an easy writer to imitate.

I have, I admit, a low tolerance for detached chronicling and cool analysis.

My assignment is what every writer's assignment is: tell the truth of his own time.

The black situation has changed. They finally realized they're Americans.

There are no shortcuts—everything is reps, reps, reps.

Where there is love, there is no war.

Jefferson was the rare leader who stood out from the crowd without intimidating it.

We will not achieve high performance in education if we replace teachers with machines or turn teachers into machines.

There is no self-delusion more fatal than that which makes the conscience dreamy with the anodyne of lofty sentiments, while the life is groveling and sensual

Building a dollhouse is a lot like writing a novel because you are God of the Universe.

Long ago I lost the joy in living. The only joy I have is in my giving.

TO be racing in Formula One with Mclaren has been the ultimate goal for me. It's a dream come true.

Focus on your dream and do everything in your power. You have the power to change your life circumstances.

A few performances have been left out of the various Woodstock soundtracks and film edits over the years, most notably The Grateful Dead.