It is a mystery, and to tell the truth, I am intrigued by mysteries even if this is to be my last week of enjoying them. I would welcome some glimmer of understanding but, failing that, working on the puzzle will suffice.

You treat violence as an aberration ... when in truth it is the norm. It is the very essence of the human condition.

Luckily, even as a young man not yet become himself, John Bridgens had two things besides indecision that kept him from self-destruction - books and a sense of irony.

Speaking as a novelist myself, I know that members of our profession live in our imaginations as much or more as we inhabit what people call 'the real world.

Words were like objects, making the idea more solid -- less a poisonous gas and more a ... cube of crystallized thought.

The young remember most deeply.... When we are old and failing, it is the memories of childhood which can be summoned most clearly.

Artists recognize other artists as soon as the pencil begins to move.