To be motivated to write a novel, I need to be unable not to write.

This pain is comfort. It is the solace of physicality, like a touch.

Doing nothing was as honourable as any available course of action. Think of Hamlet, think of Job, think of Jesus before Pilate.

Like all fiction, my lies are just my efforts to be truer than the truth.

I stare out at the real world projected on the windows

His suffering was no more real than he was.

Reality, it seems, is not a flat plane, but has as many veils as an onion has skins.

For someone to be perfect, they must be real, however imperfect they are.

It is a matter of mere coincidence that there is often a real individual who corresponds with a celebrity, signifies them.

You need to bridge the gap between reality and freedom. Drugs are the bridge.

I feel underslept but overjoyed. Nothing feels so good as this.

Evil is relatively rare

The university is the last remaining platform for national dissent.

I weighed the pros and cons of both, and college outweighed the pro ranks at the time and I'm definitely glad I made the choice to come to Oregon State because I'm a better player for it.

Dogs, dogs, go away, let me live another day.

Happy men are grave. They carry their happiness cautiously, as they would a glass filled to the brim which the slightest movement could cause to spill over, or break.

God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil ... and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution.

I voted to send people to war.

Nevertheless, I have no political agenda whatsoever, even though some might think the contrary.

Seek the tarnish and you shall find