America can be saved only by what it's trying to destroy.

There's a connection between the advances that are made in technology and the sense of primitive fear people develop in response to it.

Doesn't our knowledge of death make life more precious?' What good is a preciousness based on fear and anxiety? It's an anxious quivering thing

Let's enjoy the aimless days while we still can.

As belief shrinks from the world, it is more necessary than ever that someone believe. Wild-eyed men in caves. Nuns in black. Monks who do not speak. We are left to believe. Fools, children. Those who have abandoned belief must still believe in us. They are sure they are right not to believe but they know belief must not fade completely. Hell is when no one believes.

A writer takes earnest measures to secure his solitude and then finds endless ways to squander it.

Everything's a scandal. Dying's a scandal. But we all do it.