of all the foolish Fears of Humankind, Fear of the Future is by far the most foolish.

Any system was a straightjacket if you insisted on adhering to it so totally and humorlessly.

Writers tend to be addicted to houses ... We work at home, indulging the agoraphobia endemic to our kind. We are immersed in our surroundings to an almost morbid degree.

Unhappiness is our element. We come to believe we can't function without it.

It is the artists who make the true value of the world, though at times they may have to starve to do it. They are like earthworms, turning up the soil so things can grow, eating dirt so that the rest of us may eat green shoots.

Women are their own worst enemies. And guilt is the main weapon of self-torture . . . Show me a woman who doesn't feel guilty and I'll show you a man.

Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights. Italy the Church. America Hollywood.