In other words, Judaism is not Calvinism.

Each work seems to give me the most trouble at the time I'm working on it.

A writer is a strange instrument of our species, a harp of sorts, fine-tuned to the dark contradictions of life.

Each generation thinks it fights new battles. But the battles are the same. Only the people are different.

I'm not altogether certain that a fundamentalism of necessity has to argue that it is the only reading of the human experience in order to stay alive.

I do not know what evil is when it comes to art. I only know what is good art and what is bad art.

I looked at my right hand, the hand with which I painted. There was power in that hand. Power to create and destroy. Power to bring pleasure and pain. Power to amuse and horrify. There was in that hand the demonic and the divine at one and the same time. The demonic and the divine were two aspects of the same force. Creation was demonic and divine. Creativity was demonic and divine. I was demonic and divine.