A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.

When there is a big tree small ones climb on its back to reach the sun.

When we hear a house has fallen do we ask if the ceiling fell with it?

There's no lack of writers writing novels in America, about America. Therefore, it seems to me it would be wasteful for me to add to that huge number of people writing here when there are so few people writing about somewhere else.

We live in a sea of general ideas, so that's not a novel, since there are so many general ideas. But the moment a particular idea is linked to a character, it's like an engine moves it. Then you have a novel underway.

A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.

Storytellers are a threat. They threaten all champions of control, they frighten usurpers of the right-to-freedom of the human spirit -- in state, in church or mosque, in party congress, in the university or wherever.