Space or science fiction has become a dialect for our time.

Borrowing is not much better than begging; just as lending with interest is not much better than stealing.

But there is no doubt that to attempt a novel of ideas is to give oneself a handicap: the parochialism of our culture is intense. For instance, decade after decade bright young men and women emerge from their universities able to say proudly: 'Of course I know nothing about German literature.' It is the mode. The Victorians knew everything about German literature, but were able with a clear conscience not to know much about the French.

I write because I've always written, can't stop. I am a writing animal. The way a silk worm is a silk-producing animal.

Argument does not teach children or the immature. Only time and experience does that.

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.

The art of living in a small town is one of the most difficult to acquire.