Whether I'm critically well received, whether or not I sell books - of course it becomes progressively harder to get them published - nevertheless, it's what I do, every day.

Long after the bomb falls and you and your good deeds are gone, cockroaches will still be here, prowling the streets like armored cars.

With publicity comes humiliation.

The older a woman gets, the more invisible you become.

Most of my life is just spent lying in bed. I mean, it's enough pressure to write the words. Do I need to use the additional energy exerted by sitting up?

The novel is never really in the first draft. The novel really happens in the revisions.

Why would I want to read something about somebody that's just a really nice, decent person who overcomes terrible trials? That's not how life is to me.

I feel like I sort of missed the eighties. At the time, we didn’t know we were having fun, which is probably the way it always is.

I was like a social worker for lepers. My clients had a chunk of their body they wanted to give away; for a price I was there to receive it.

I think the sixties must have been quite a lot of fun.

Brownstein's is a fresh and jaunty voice, with a jazz snap all his own.

To remember is to disengage from the present.

God gave us free will so that we might choose our own destinies. He left it up to us to achieve them.

You men find so many angels in your travels. You have been honester than some. You have generally been off with the old angel before you were with the new, as far at least as I knew.

An affectionate disposition not only makes the mind more peaceful and calm, but it affects our body in a positive way too.

Two truths cannot contradict one another.

Eighteen holes of match play will teach you more about your foe than nineteen years of dealing with him across the desk.

In magic, man has to rely on himself. So, in religion, of course, you're looking for outside support but that's the appeal of magic.

The catcher is in the middle of everything. He sees it best.

If your mind is at work, we're in danger of reproducing another cliche. If we can keep our minds out of it and our thoughts out of it, maybe we'll come up with something original.

Growth hurts because change isn't easy, that's why they call it growing pains