I came out of Capitol Hill. Well, that's just not an ordinary background for a writer of the ordinary American sort.

If you want to rise in politics in the United States, there is one subject you must stay away from, and that is politics.

I was the first - I was extremely unpopular with the establishment of the United States, particularly the New York Times was always an enemy, and Time magazine, off and on, the enemy, because I said things and took positions that other people didn't do.

Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.

A writer represents his family history. My grandfather was a senator and my father served in the Roosevelt administration. In other words, I grew up in politics. This is why it seemed perfectly natural to take part in the battles of my time, and to participate in the writing of the history of my country.

We've had parallel lives. And frankly, I prefer mine to his. I would not like to be George Bush.

I regard monotheism as the greatest disaster ever to befall the human race. I see no good in Judaism, Christianity, or Islam - good people, yes, but any religion based on a single, well, frenzied and virulent god, is not as useful to the human race as, say, Confucianism, which is not a religion but an ethical and educational system.