Advice to young writers? Always the same advice: learn to trust our own judgment.

I do not think that marriage is one of my talents. I've been much happier unmarried than married.

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

None of you [men] ask for anything - except everything, but just for so long as you need it.

All politicians are not the same. I've never felt that way. What is the same is that voters get very excited about new faces, like Clinton and Blair - and they have unrealistic expectations that the world will change overnight. A cynical old hand like myself knows that it won't.

I've always disliked words like inspiration. Writing is probably like a scientist thinking about some scientific problem, or an engineer about an engineering problem.

I hate Iran. I hate the Iranian government. It's a cruel and evil government.