Don’t try to make life a mathematics problem with yourself in the center and everything coming out equal. When you’re good, bad things can still happen. And if you’re bad, you can still be lucky.

Does a man become a revolutionary out of the belief he's entitled to joy rather than submission?

I don't *ever* write about real people. Art is supposed to be better than that. If you want a slice of life, look out the window.

Wherever I am, let me never forget to distinguish want from need

It's very important to distinguish between innocence and naivete. The innocent do not deserve to be the victims of violence. But only the naive refuse to think about the origins of violence and to pursue the possibility that the genesis of that hatred could be addressed.

No other continent has endured such an unspeakably bizarre combination of foreign thievery and foreign goodwill.

Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature.