I never reread a text until I have finished the first draft. Otherwise it's too discouraging.

I'm not for real revolutions, because they always bring you the opposite of what you want. You very seldom get what you want if you have a violent revolution.

We are the United States of Amnesia, we learn nothing because we remember nothing.

Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.

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.

Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head.

I like the distance that Europe gives me. Also if I stayed in America I'd be a full-time politician and have no time for writing, which is why I went to Europe to live in 1961.