Novels, except as aids to masturbation, play no part in contemporary life.

I suppose that one is always tempted to challenge those who think that they and they alone possess the truth or the way or the key to the mystery.

I have been on the cover of Time magazine. My father was on the cover of Time, and my grandfather was on the cover of Time.

The period of Prohibition - called the noble experiment - brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order the United States has known until today. I think there is a lesson here. Do not regulate the private morals of people. Do not tell them what they can take or not take. Because if you do, they will become angry and antisocial and they will get what they want from criminals who are able to work in perfect freedom because they have paid off the police.

I look into my own black heart.

The United States was founded by the brightest people in the country — and we haven't seen them since.

I wanted to be a politician and a movie star. But I was born a writer. If you're born that, you can't change it. You're going to do it whether you want to or not.~