Stories are consoling, fiction is one of the consolation prizes for having lived in the world.

I like the construction of sentences and the juxtaposition of words-not just how they sound or what they mean, but even what they look like.

I think more than writers, the major influences on me have been European movies, jazz, and Abstract Expressionism.

We seem to believe it is possible to ward off death by following rules of good grooming.

As technology advances in complexity and scope, fear becomes more primitive.

No sense of the irony of human experience, that we are the highest form of life on earth, and yet ineffably sad because we know what no other animal knows, that we must die.

I've come to think of Europe as a hardcover book, America as the paperback version.

I don’t want your candor. I want your soul in a silver thimble.

What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.

California deserves whatever it gets. Californians invented the concept of life-style. This alone warrants their doom.

A writer takes earnest measures to secure his solitude and then finds endless ways to squander it.

You must realize that whenever you waste a second you are wasting life. If you waste a minute, you have wasted life and if you waste an hour, you have wasted life.

Everyone writes the book he or she loves to read. Great authors write the books others love to read.

Dream and dare the world to object

To be effective the preacher's message must be alive; it must alarm, arouse, challenge; it must be God's present voice to a particular people.

Next to the dog, the wastebasket is your best friend.

I was so astonished that I could think of nothing to say, but wondered irrelevantly if I was to be caught with a teapot in my hand on every dramatic occasion.

It takes forever to make a film. It's a gargantuan thing of untold effort.

In politics, as in every other sphere of life, there are two important principles for a man of any sense: don't cherish too many illusions, and never stop believing that every little bit helps.

When people claim to know who I am, I can no longer act freely.

Only in situations where competition is illegal will competition not act naturally to bring the best product at the lowest price to the consumer.