It is is better to know one book intimately than a hundred superficially.

But how,” said Charles, who was close to tears, “how can you possibly justify cold-blooded murder?’ Henry lit a cigarette. “I prefer to think of it,” he had said, “as redistribution of matter.

I think it's especially important for an editor to say what he's enjoying. For a novelist to be told, midstream, what he's doing right can actually influence the unwritten parts of a novel in a positive way - praise helps a writer know what's good about what he's written, what's interesting and exciting, and what to work for in writing the conclusion.

I think it's hard to write about children and to have an idea of innocence.

Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.

Does such a thing as "the fatal flaw," that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature?

There's an expectation these days that novels - like any other consumer product - should be made on a production line, with one dropping from the conveyor belt every couple of years.