Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little.

Never have varmints, only grandvarmints.

Freud did some serious damage to American literature - a lot of writers began therapy in the 1940s, after which they all became terribly egocentric.

Nonprofit status is what created the Bible Belt. The tax code brought religion back to this country.

I sometimes think it is because they are so bad at expressing themselves verbally that writers take to pen and paper in the first place

There was more of a flow to my output of writing in the past, certainly. Having no contemporaries left means you cannot say, "Well, so-and-so will like this," which you do when you're younger. You realize there is no so-and-so anymore. You are your own so-and-so. There is a bleak side to it.

I'm in Hollywood right now, surrounded by nothing but the sons and grandsons of movie stars.