My views naturally have mellowed. Most of the critics have been more or less nice to me

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.

I've gone on the wagon, but my body doesn't believe it.

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.

You have to expect the raps when you have achieved popularity as a writer

Special-interest magazines are dangerous places for writers to start out in because the writing quickly falls into a routine and people are likely to find themselves artistically exhausted when they want to work on something of their own

A writer is a human being. He has to live with a sense of honor.