When I write, the first blank page, or any blank page, means nothing to me. What means something is a page that has been filled with words.

A good smoker, like a good lover, always takes his time with a cigar.

I was never a true journalist, I was a movie critic.

I think writers rush in where everybody is very frightened to tread

I think that I've tried many times to get Cuba in my writings, especially Havana, which was once a great and fascinating city.

Cigars must be smoked one at a time, peaceably, with all the leisure in the world. Cigarettes are of the instant, Cigars are for eternity.

I was an avid radio fan when I was a boy, as well as a great lover of comic strips

So I do not consider myself a chronicler of my fatherland or even a chronicler of Havana

What I do believe is that there is always a relationship between writing and reading, a constant interplay between the writer on the one hand and the reader on the other

Writing for me, even what you call serious writing, is play.

If the sleep of reason produces monsters, what does the sleep of unreason produce?

The separation of church and state is a source of strength, but the conscience of our nation does not call for separation between men of state and faith in the Supreme Being.

Obviously you live life for yourself and have your choice to believe what you want to believe in, but I know that the Bible can be used to appreciate life.

My grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher.

Many of these Americans who are struggling to survive are Americans of color, .. Their cries for assistance confront America with a test of our moral compass as a nation.

I want the joy of knowing that I am doing something with my life, the joy of battle.

Set a new standard. Change reality. Break ground to something new and different. That achievement will live forever just because you WERE somebody special!

Your presence here is is only a matter of conducting an experiment in limits, reminding yourself of what you aren’t.

Entertainment is in art like color in pictures.

The art of peace is medicine for a sick worldit does not rely on weapons or brute force to succeed

The debate over troop levels will rage for years; it is...beside the point.