My whole life experience feeds into my writing. I think that must be true for every writer. Clearly the Army and combat were major influences; just the same, you need to understand that many of the writers we have now couldn't load a revolver.

That we are capable only of being what we are remains our unforgivable sin.

You never learn how to write a novel. You just learn how to write the novel that you're writing.

When a gift is deserved, it is not a gift but a payment.

He's not rewarding us by talking to us. He's talking to us because He has something to say to us directly, as opposed to the things He says to all humanity.

I don't think anyone is more intrinsically holy. People experience God in many ways; and it seems to me that God does what the rest of us do: He chooses the means that best gets His message across.

Men are said to desire women, Severian. Why do they despise the women they obtain?