A writer of books has to admit that film is the enemy, and that in my case I have been sleeping with the enemy.

Time seems to me a drift, a shifting of sand. And my mind is shifting with it. I am wearing away.

We make a mistake to condescend to the past as if it were preparatory to our own time.

The writer isn't made in a vacuum. Writers are witnesses. The reason we need writers is because we need witnesses to this terrifying century.

The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.

Someone dying asks if there is life after death. Yes, comes the answer, only not yours.

I have committed many sins in my life. This precise sin-the sin against poets-is without absolution.