One of the most fascinating aspects of politician-watching is trying to determine to what extent any politician believes what he says.

Art is not a democracy, in fact art is the enemy of democracy

Commercialism is doing well that which should not be done at all.

I went to Europe to live in 1961. I'd never have written Julian if it hadn't been for the sequestered life that I led in Rome and the classical library at the America Academy.

The greatest pleasure when I started making money was not buying cars or yachts but finding myself able to have as many freshly typed drafts as possible.

We have been at war almost constantly since the last century. And it has not helped our institutions. Congress no longer represents the people. The courts do not practice justice any more. The armies never stop playing at being the policemen of the world and of oil.

True wisdom is to know the extent of what you don't know quite as well as you know what you do know.