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

The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.

I used to think it was possible for an artist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory.

Maybe when we die, the first thing we'll say is 'I know this feeling. I was here before'.

When I read obituaries I always note the age of the deceased. Automatically I relate this figure to my own age. Four years to go, I think. Nine more years. Two years and I'm dead. The power of numbers is never more evident than when we use them to speculate on the time of our dying.

All plots tend to move deathward. This is the nature of plots.

It is interesting ... how weapons reflect the soul of the maker.