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

The Shadow had no imagination. He neither looked at naked women nor thought of ridding the world of dictators like Hitler or Mussolini.

The theory of the teacher with all these immigrant kids was that if you spoke English loudly enough they would eventually understand.

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 did that with 'World's Fair' as with all of them. The inventions of the book come as discoveries.

Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.

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

Writing is immensely difficult. The short forms especially.