Being called a 'bad citizen' is a compliment to a novelist, at least to my mind. That's exactly what we ought to do.

I never wanted to change the world. Norman Mailer wanted to, he set himself the task of changing the consciousness of our age. And I think he came pretty close, in the 1960s, to actually managing to do it. But me? No, no, I never wanted anything like that. I'm not Maileresque.

It was important for him to believe that he'd spent his life among people who kept missing the point.

The world isn't going to be destroyed, but you don't feel safe anymore in your plane or train or office or auditorium.

The modern meaning of life's end-when does it end? How does it end? How should it end? What is the value of life? How do we measure it?

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

I've always felt that my subject was living in dangerous times.