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

If football players were armed with guns, there wouldn't be stadiums large enough to hold the crowds.

There are too many books I haven’t read, too many places I haven’t seen, too many memories I haven’t kept long enough.

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

Kennedy was a man who liked writers and even I got invited to the White House

I'm not as hopeful as I was when I was young