When we're trying to decide whether a leader is a good leader or a bad one, the question to ask is: 'Is he with the Ten Commandments or is he against them?' Then you can determine if the leader is a true messiah or another Stalin.

As much as I can give of myself I give of myself. There's no reason why not. And when I have to hide something, I let the character speak.

A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind.

No matter how much you know a human being, you don't know him enough.

The very essence of literature is the war between emotion and intellect, between life and death. When literature becomes too intellectual - when it begins to ignore the passions, the emotions - it becomes sterile, silly, and actually without substance.

Actually, the true story of a person's life can never be written. It is beyond the power of literature. The full tale of any life would be both utterly boring and utterly unbelievable.

No doubt the world is entirely an imaginary world, but it is only once removed from the true world.