I don't want anything. I don't want a job. I don't want to be respectable. I don't want prizes. I turned down the National Institute of Arts and Letters when I was elected to it in 1976 on the grounds that I already belonged to the Diners Club.

To a born-again atheist like myself, it is clear that each of us has multiple selves, talents, perceptions. But to the Roman Catholic, unity is all.

Vitriolic is a needless and malign attack on something, excessive attack on something. It is a rather pointless thing to do.

I never reread a text until I have finished the first draft. Otherwise it's too discouraging.

Heaven's sakes, there's only one party which I call the Property Party. It's got two wings. One is called the "Republican" and one is called "Democratic." It is the same party so it makes no difference whether a Democrat's elected or a Republican's elected. The ownership remains the same.

Everything's wrong on Wikipedia.

I have always found men quite fathomable. They look entirely to their own interest.