Your mind is a treasure house that you should stock well and it's the one part of you the world can't interfere with.

When I act tough they listen politely till the spasm passes. They know.

We never really had any kind of a Christmas. This is one part where my memory fails me completely.

I admire certain priests and nuns who go off on their own and do God's work on their own, who help in the ghettos, but as far as the institution of the church is concerned, I think it is despicable.

I can't go too much into my domestic life because there are ex-wives ready to do me in.

First of all there is always that artistic challenge of creating something. Or the particular experience to take slum life in that period and make something out of it in the form of a book. And then I felt some kind of responsibility to my family.

You feel a sense of urgency, especially at my advanced age, when you're staring into the grave.