My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position, compose my mind and senses, and sink into meditation, contemplating my novel.

There never was a good war or a bad revolution.

Each thing in its way, when true to its own character, is equally beautiful. (p 41)

If you feel that you must suffer, then plan your suffering carefully -- as you choose your dreams, as you conceive your ancestors.

An empty man is full of himself.

I have written much about many good places. But the best places of all, I have never mentioned.

Counterpart to the knee-jerk liberal is the new knee-pad conservative, always groveling before the rich and the powerful.