I really wanted to write an adventure story, a murder-mystery that was set during the gold-rush years in New Zealand.

I think the adverb is a much-maligned part of speech. Its always accused of being oppressive, even tyrannical, when in fact its so supple and sly.

All men want their whores to be unhappy.

I really wanted to write an adventure story, a murder-mystery that was set during the gold-rush years in New Zealand.

For although a man is judged by his actions, by what he has said and done, a man judges himself by what he is willing to do, by what he might have said, or might have done—a judgment that is necessarily hampered, not only by the scope and limits of his imagination, but by the ever-changing measure of his doubt and self-esteem.

A man ought never to trust another mans evaluation of a third mans disposition.

I see disappointment as something small and aggregate rather than something unified or great. With a little effort, every failure can be turned into something good.