The novelist must be his own most harsh critic and also his own most loving admirer and about both he must say nothing.

I have no concern for the common man except that he should not be so common.

Once a Catholic always a Catholic.

Life isn't just to be found, you have to work for it.

The roots of art and play lie very close together.

All fiction for me is a kind of magic and trickery, a confidence trick, trying to make people believe something is true that isn't.

The opportunities for heroism are limited in this kind of world: the most people can do is sometimes not to be as weak as they've been at other times.