The question to ask about the writer isn't 'Why does he behave so badly?' but 'What does he gain by wearing this mask?

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.

Maybe it was inertia -or worse, fear- that was keeping me in the same place.

People are beautiful when they share things.

YOU CAN ONLY DO ONE THING AT A TIME SO CONCENTRATE ON IT.

And I'll act like I have faith, and like that faith never ends, but I really just have friends.

When we erase perception, then we erase that which perceives perception. The universe dissolves and we see that it was never real to begin with.

No one who ever had lessons would have a swing like mine.

I've always thought that very few people grow old as admirably as academics. At least books never let them down.

American scripts are usually non-stop conversation. People talking over each other. I like that.

The rewards go to the risk-takers, those who are willing to put their egos on the line and reach out to other people and to a richer, fuller life for themselves.

I assure you that there's a lot involved in compositions with figures. ... It's like weaving... you must control and keep an eye on several things at once.