I imagine that my characters have become much more complicated than when I first began, which would be normal

In a novel, it's hard to keep track of everybody

I never show anything to anybody until I've finished it

In the theater, characters have to cut the umbilical cord from the writer and talk in their own voices

I look at everything. God gave me eyes and I look at women and men and subway excavations and moving pictures and the little flowers of the field. I casually inspect the universe.

An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.

The romantic idea is that everybody around a writer must suffer for his talent. I think a writer is a citizen of humanity, part of his nation, part of his family. He may have to make some compromises.