I have no television to go on so I get a lot of writing done. That's my substitute for television.

How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time itself.

Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.

I like Italy. I was always at home there, it's a marvelous place to become invisible. Nobody bothers you and nobody is interested in you and I find that very good for work.

Vitriolic really is personal. I am vitriolic. I am savage.

Movie acting, I later realized, reminds me of contract bridge. Each requires the same concentration, intense short-term memory, and obliviousness to everything else until the last trump is called - or whatever it is they do.

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