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.

Communists have no respect for people, only for positions.

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

My memories pale as I prevail upon them again and again. They become more and more ghostly. I fear nothing so much as losing them altogether and having only my blank endless mind to live in.

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.

I like commas. I detest semi-colons — I don’t think they belong in a story. And I gave up quotation marks long ago. I found I didn’t need them, they were fly-specks on the page.

The three most important documents a free society gives are a birth certificate, a passport, and a library card.