You can never betray the people who are dead, so you go on being a public Jew; the dead can't answer slurs, but I'm here. I would love to think that Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, but he doesn't.

Accountability in friendship is the equivalent of love without strategy.

To remain pure, a novel has to cast a moral puzzle. Anything else is mere negotiation.

In real life, it is the hare who wins. Every time. Look around you. And in any case it is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market. Hares have no time to read. They are too busy winning the game.

For once a thing is known, it can never be unknown. It can only be forgotten.

I suppose what one wants really is ideal company and books are ideal company.

Death is only a small interruption.