Art is whether or not there is a scream in him wanting to get out in a special way.

Two hundred or more years ago most people on the planet were never aware of any reality other than the one into which they were brought up.

It's always easier to learn something than to use what you've learned. . . . You're alone when you're learning. But you always use it on other people. It's different when there are other people involved.

I think the hardest part of writing is revising. And by that I mean the following: A novelist has to create the piece of marble and then chip away to find the figure in it.

No one knows he is fortunate until he becomes unfortunate, that's the way the world is.

... an artist is a person first. He is an individual. If there is no person, there is no artist.

I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own.