One's neighbor is always the enemy. That is the nature of things.

There's a lot to be said for being nouveau riche, and the Reagans mean to say it all.

Of course his dust would be absorbed in other living things and to that degree at least he would exist again, though it was plain enough that the specific combination which was he would never exist again.

As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests.

The Americans only like things they can label, even if it kills them. Think of those poor Latin American writers. Some of them are very good. But the "magical realism" label has absolutely ruined them. The critics are like tourists who return from a trip saying they've "done" Machu Picchu: "Okay, we've done magical realism," so now we can throw it out.

a writer must always tell the truth (unless he's a journalist)

I deny that there's such a thing as a gay person. I deny there's such a thing as a heterosexual person.