Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.

When you come from a family that has been political, and I was brought up by my grandfather in the Senate, my father was in Roosevelt's Cabinet, this is not the class that produces writers or reflective people.

American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.

I am glad my life is coming to an end. To think that it might last another five hundred years, now that would be terrible, in my case.

My family helped start [this country], we've been in political life ... since the 1690s, and I have a very possessive sense about this country.

The most interesting thing about writing is the way that it obliterates time. Three hours seem like three minutes.

For true happiness, it is not enough to be successful oneself . . . one's friends must fail.