Nothing is more exhilarating than philistine vulgarity.

Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.

And the rest is rust and stardust.

Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.

Mind you, sometimes the angels smoke, hiding it with their sleeves, and when the archangel comes, they throw the cigarettes away: that’s when you get shooting stars.

Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.

There are aphorisms that, like airplanes, stay up only while they are in motion.

I think it is all a matter of love: the more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is.

Loneliness as a situation can be corrected, but as a state of mind it is an incurable illness.

Value is what you trade to get money. The more valuable you are the more money you attract.

I have acted foolishly, father forgive me.

One of my life's principles is to develop myself to the maximum of my potential in all ways and to help others do the same.

Alas! Our dancing days are no more. We wish, however, all those who have a relish for so agreeable and innocent an amusement all the pleasure the season will afford them.

There were lots of programs over the course of the two referendums and the general tenor of them was that if Quebec were to separate, then Canada would disintegrate.

I don't read "letters" sections of magazines, but I'll read anyone's blog post about me.

You know, modern liberals are just, I think frankly, totally off the deep end... their only answer is to yell racism and hide.

Great work is always shunned at first.

One of the last courses I taught was on the Russian short story, which I love.