And it does no harm to repeat, as often as you can, 'Without me the literary industry would not exist: the publishers, the agents, the sub-agents, the sub-sub-agents, the accountants, the libel lawyers, the departments of literature, the professors, the theses, the books of criticism, the reviewers, the book pages- all this vast and proliferating edifice is because of this small, patronized, put-down and underpaid person.'

It is our stories that will recreate us, when we are torn, hurt, even destroyed. It is the storyteller, the dream-maker, the myth-maker, that is our phoenix, that represents us at our best, and at our most creative.

It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important.

I never thought of London in terms of possible heroes - of course, there are thousands. It's a very talented city.

When I became political and Communist, it was because they were the only people I had ever met who fought the color bar in their lives.

I do not think writers or anybody would sit down and think they must write about some cause, or theme, or something. If they write about their own experiences, something true is going to emerge.

Charity has always been a expression of the guilty consciences of a ruling class.