The world is only tolerable because of the empty places in it...when the world's filled up, we'll have to get hold of a star. Any star. Venus, or Mars. Get hold of it and leave it empty. Man needs an empty space somewhere for his spirit to rest in.

It is my belief that children are full of understanding and know as much as and more than adults, until they are about seven, when they suddenly become stupid, like adults.

In the writing process, the more a story cooks, the better.

Bed is the best place for reading, thinking, or doing nothing.

The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion.

Novels give you the matrix of emotions, give you the flavour of a time in a way formal history cannot.

Trust no friend without faults, and love a woman, but no angel.