One would think he never sucked at his mother’s breast.

Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am - and what I need - is something I have to find out myself.

The Novelist As Teacher”: “I would be quite satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their past – with all its imperfections – was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them.

They have not always elected the best leaders, particularly after a long period in which they have not used this facility of free election. You tend to lose the habit.

Presidents do not go off on leave without telling the country.

Whenever you see a toad jumping in broad daylight, then know that something is after its life.

Whenever I try to do anything on a typewriter, it's like having this machine between me and the words; what comes out is not quite what would come out if I were scribbling.