We've had parallel lives. And frankly, I prefer mine to his. I would not like to be George Bush.

In writing and politicking, it's best not to think about it, just do it.

I'm in Hollywood right now, surrounded by nothing but the sons and grandsons of movie stars.

When the white race broke out of Europe 500 years ago, it did many astounding things all over the globe. Inspired by a raging sky-god, the whites were able to pretend that their conquests were in order to bring the One God to everyone, particularly those with older and subtler religions.

I am a born novelist, which does not happen all that often. There are people who try to write for a certain time, then they become Ministers of Culture under de Gaulle, and they begin living their own fictions.

Altruism is a brief phase through which some adolescents must pass. It is rather like acne. Happily, as with acne, only a few are permanently scarred.

I’m not sentimental about anything. Life flows by, and you flow with it or you don’t. Move on and move out.