My first thought was always a cigarette. It still is, but I haven't cheated.

I did that for 40 years or more. I never had any writer's block. I got up in the morning, sat down at the typewriter - now, computer - lit up a cigarette.

For someone to be taken seriously it was valuable to have the appearance of someone who deserved to be taken seriously.

What were we doing here? Traveling hundreds or thousands of light-years, to break our hearts?

It's clear that science and science fiction have overlapping populations.

That's what life is, just one learning experience after another, and when you're through with all the learning experiences you graduate and what you get for a diploma is, you die.

When I sit down to the feast of life ... I'm so busy planning on how to pick up the check, and wondering what the other people think of me for paying it, and wondering if I have enough money in my pocket to pay the bill, that I don't get around to eating.