Things that appear on the front page of the newspaper as 'fact' are far more dangerous than the games played by a novelist, and can lead to wars.

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

Longing, the hope for fulfillment, is the one unwavering passion of the world's commerce.

One of the things I had to learn as a writer was to trust the act of writing. To put myself in the position of writing to find out what I was writing.

I have been everywhere because I don't know what I'm looking for.

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

And so the ordinary unendurable torments we all experienced were indeed exceptional in the way they were absorbed in each heart.