What I think happens, and that you have to acknowledge though, is that a director uses a book as a launching pad for his own work and that's always very flattering.

Well, it arose out of two long-term concerns - the first being the possibility of genetic manipulation, nature versus nurture, what constitutes how people get to be how they are.

Let's just say, the American school of suburban angst is not my cup of tea.

Prior to penicillin and medical research, death was an everyday occurrence. It was intimate.

They thought to use and shame me but I win out by nature, because a true freak cannot be made. A true freak must be born.

I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out.

The truth is always an insult or a joke, lies are generally tastier. We love them. The nature of lies is to please. Truth has no concern for anyone's comfort

Women who pay their own rent don't have to be nice.

Every doorway, every intersection has a story.

I get glimpses of the horror of normalcy. Each of these innocents on the street is engulfed by a terror of their own ordinariness. They would do anything to be unique.

Suddenly the staggering love bursts away from me like milk from a smashed glass.

There is nothing as tentative as an old woman's touch; as loving or as horrible.

It's one of the biggest benefits of being president that you really don't think about until you get here.

An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.

I think, in common with a lot of novelists, I wasn't the most athletic guy at school.

Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.

You will have wonderful surges forward. Then there must be a time of consolidating before the next forward surge. Accept this as part of the process and never become downhearted.

I'm a person who likes habit and knowing what my job is.

Your destiny is not cancelled because of a mistake, because of a failure. Get back up and go again.

When the time comes, they won't ask what kind of a Jew you are.

I'm going to tell it straight, that yes, I'd love to be traded