It was a pity that movies and live TV left New York for Hollywood. London theater, movies, television - until (Britain's) money ran out - were always better than ours since the city was the political capital of the country, as well as the artistic and literary one. In L.A. we've always been slightly sealed off from real life. It's no accident that two of our most interesting directors, Woody Allen and Bob Altman, are more or less settled in the real world.

Novels, except as aids to masturbation, play no part in contemporary life.

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

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

The four most beautiful words in our common language: I told you so.

Now you have people in Washington who have no interest in the country at all. They're interested in their companies, their corporations grabbing Caspian oil.

I think since Watergate people are interested in what the past of this country was really like.