We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges.

You never learn how to write a novel. You just learn how to write the novel that you're writing.

Imagine a man who stands before a mirror; a stone strikes it, and it falls to ruin all in an instant. And the man learns that he is himself, and not the mirrored man he had believed himself to be.

People don't want other people to be people.

Weak people believe what is forced on them. Strong people what they wish to believe, forcing that to be real.

Knowledge is soon changed, then lost in the mist, an echo half-heard.

My definition of good literature is that which can be read by an educated reader, and reread with increased pleasure.

There is no limit to stupidity. - Space itself is said to be bounded by its own curvature, but stupidity continues beyond infinity.

Ambiguity is necessary in some of my stories, not in all. In those, it certainly contributes to the richness of the story. I doubt that thematic closure is never attainable.

Evolution teaches us the original purpose of language was to ritualize men's threats and curses, his spells to compel the gods; communication came later.

All time exists. That is the truth.... If the future did not exist now, how could we journey toward it? If the past does not exist still, how could we leave it behind?

Strange as it may seem, I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an interesting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.

Shakespeare said, 'the robbed that smiles steals something from the thief.

Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his friends for his political life.

Nature, even in the act of satisfying anticipation, often provides a surprise.

Oxford is the most dangerous place to which a young man can be sent.

I really do believe that there's no such thing as coincidence. People come into our lives for a reason.

A mountaineer’s house, before being his home and the home of his family, is the home of God and of guests.

Good maxims are the germs of all excellence.

Being on TV has changed my life because I get lots of free stuff!

The constitutional freedom of religion is the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights