Since there is no system of public education, the great majority of my fellow citizens is frighteningly ignorant. They have no idea where Iraq is. They accept as the gospel whatever the government tells them. Good grief, any other normal country would have been against the Iraq war! But we live in an abnormal country, governed by experts in deceptive advertising.

The idea of a good society is something you do not need a religion and eternal punishment to buttress; you need a religion if you are terrified of death.

Many human beings enjoy sexual relations with their own sex; many don't; many respond to both. This plurality is part of our nature and not worth fretting about.

I have no social position and I stay away from what is known as society as much as possible.

When anyone says to me, 'Can you keep a secret?' I say, 'Why should I, if you can't?'

The only absolute attainment is absolute abandonment.

Most writers are middle-class and are the children of doctors or lawyers.