Here, I thought, I had found the human race in its final stages of decadence perverse, insouciant, without ambition. And I could not blame them. After all, they had no future.

The book trade invented literary prizes to stimulate sales, not to reward merit.

Americans need bullshit the way koala bears need eucalyptus leaves. They've become totally addicted to it. They get so much of it back home that they can't survive without it.

By means of our myths and legends we maintain a sense of what we are worth and who we are. Without them we should undoubtedly go mad.

The Lords of Chaos are the enemies of Logic, the jugglers of Truth, the molders of Beauty

Because I had sought to challenge Destiny, Destiny had taken vengeance.

Destiny's Champion, Fate's fool. Eternity's Soldier, Time's Tool.

I think of myself as a bad writer with big ideas, but I'd rather be that than a big writer with bad ideas.

It is almost impossible to have a baseless snobbish opinion of the General Theory of Relativity.

Treasures are not won by care and forethought but by swift slaying and reckless attack.

The subtlest lie of all is the full truth.

Inevitably, Saul's faraway heart would turn to faraway actions.

The prospect of future lives in remote heavens as a compensation for the inadequacy of our present lives is a bad tradeoff for losing out on the present.

The thing I know for sure is that at the end of my life, what I'm going to remember is the love I felt for my family and my friends, and whatever good I did for other people.

I love the fact that this art might somehow affect the way people see, and thus open a window on the world.

nations decay from within more often than they surrender to outward assault.

I do not know a better cure for mental illness than a book.

Happiness is the best facelift.

Writing is nothing more than a guided dream.

For me, my past characters been hard, the way they died, being murdered, the sadness that goes around, the death. It's a very hard thing to do.

I like people who like Plato.