Bloomberg weighed three hundred pounds. This itself was historical. I revered his weight. It was an affirmation of humanity's reckless potential; it went beyond legend and returned through mist to the lovely folly of history. To weigh three hundred pounds. What devout vulgarity.

The less important you are in an office, the more they expect the happy smile.

I marched and I protested against the war in Vietnam, along with many, many thousands of others. But I never quite understood the bombs that were placed in science labs or office buildings.

There's always a period of curious fear between the first sweet-smelling breeze and the time when the rain comes cracking down.

The genius of the primitive mind is that it can render human helplessness in noble and beautiful ways.

We surrounded ourselves with smoke and loud noise. That's the way we chose to live. I'm prepared to defend it.

I am not particularly distressed by the state of fiction or the role of the writer. The more marginal, perhaps ultimately the more trenchant and observant and finally necessary he'll become.