There are no wrong books. What's wrong is the fear of them.

The short story packs a self in a few pages predicating a lifetime

It was all those biographies in me yelling, 'We want out. We want to tell you what we've done to you.'

The idea is to get the pencil moving quickly.

You could not pity anything if you weren't a man; pity was a surprise to God. It was not his invention.

I am somewhat of a meliorist. That is to say, I act as an optimist because I find I cannot act at all, as a pessimist. One often feels helpless in the face of the confusion of these times, such a mass of apparently uncontrollable events and experiences to live through, attempt to understand, and if at all possible, give order to; but one must not withdraw from the task if he has some small things to offer - he does so at the risk of diminishing his humanity.

... we are all terribly alone no matter what people say.