Life's tallest order is to keep the feelings up, to make two dollars' worth of euphoria go the distance. And life can't do that. So fiction does.

I don't believe less is more. I believe that more is more. I believe that less is less, fat fat, thin thin and enough is enough.

The peculiar dignity of men seen eating alone in restaurants on national holidays

Writing is an exercise in sculpture, chipping away at the rock until you find the nose.

I would never write about anyone who is not at the end of his rope.

Like a lot of what happens in novels, inspiration is a sort of spontaneous combustion--the oily rags of the head and heart.

The furthest out is the only place to be.

It's fine, precise, detailed work, the infinitely small motor management of diamond cutters and safecrackers that we do in our heads.

But it's hard to talk about art. Maybe there should be a law against it, some First Amendment gag order like crying fire in a crowded theater.

The living and dead were thrown together, and the dead looked away first.-Description of Doomsday

By loving more, you let your love live forever. The more you love, the more love you will have to give away.

I am a link in a chain

Tomorrow isn't better than today ~ yet.

For a much lauded writer, I'm not terribly self-absorbed. In social situations, which are difficult for me - I mean, this is an interview - I'm normally uncomfortable talking about myself.

There is no such thing as perfection, there are only standards. And after you have set a standard you learn that it was not high enough. You want to surpass it.

I hate to break this to you: One of these days I'm going to die. I expect that when I croak I'll no longer be using Twitter, unless I can do it from the grave.

A Government protected by foreigners will never be accepted by a free people.

I used to fish the Border rivers, but nowadays you have to queue up for a shot and I can't stand that.

Personal wealth is the by-product of making the world a better place.

Fighting is the best thing a man can have in his soul.