How Far back must we go to discover the beginning of trouble?

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you - it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.

He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.

You can no more make someone tell the truth than you can force someone to love you.

Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre.

The horror of being caged has lost its thrill.

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.

I have a slogan I use when I get anxious writing, which happens quite a bit: ‘the ordeal is part of the commitment.’ It’s one of my mantras. It makes a lot of things doable.

When the whole world doesn't believe in God, it'll be a great place.

Because that is when you love somebody - when you see them being game in the face of the worst. Not courageous. Not heroic. Just game.

It's a sad day for American Capitalism when a man can't fly a midget on a kite over central park.

There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery. You can't do any business from there.

It is a sad reflection . . . that a sense of responsibility which comes with power is the rarest of things.

I wanted to create something that people could relate to without having read a book about it beforehand.

I saw the Cloud, though I did not foresee the Storm.

Even the longest hours come to an end.

Eventually you love people - friends or lovers - because of their flaws.

Embrace your solitude and love it. Endure the pain it causes, and try to sing out with it. For those near to you are distant.

Meditation means the mind is turned back upon itself. The mind stops all the thought-waves and the world stops. Your consciousness expands. Every time you meditate you will keep your growth.

The way to succeed is to double your error rate.