Whenever citizens are seen routinely as enemies of their own government, writers are rountinely seen to be the most dangerous enemies.

Communists have no respect for people, only for positions.

We dress them [children] in the presumptions of the world. They are the bright small face of hope. They are the last belief we have, the belief in making them believe.

The music of the Stones pounds the air like the amplified pulse of my erection.

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

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. Sometimes you run over a drunk who's lain down and fallen asleep on the warm pavement. I mean, do you keep going, or what?

Poems have ideas. The ideas of poems come out of their emotions and their emotions are carried on images.