I’m exactly as I appear. There is no warm, lovable person inside. Beneath my cold exterior, once you break the ice, you find cold water.

We have a great deal to learn from Scandinavia and a great deal to be alarmed at from the Mediterranean.

I don't want anything. I don't want a job. I don't want to be respectable. I don't want prizes. I turned down the National Institute of Arts and Letters when I was elected to it in 1976 on the grounds that I already belonged to the Diners Club.

All in all, I would not have missed this century for the world.

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.

Those who have not undergone minor disasters are usually being held in reserve for something major

I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consenting adults.