The second half of the twentieth century is a complete flop.

Two important things are to have a genuine interest in people and to be kind to them. Kindness, I've discovered, is everything.

Of course I believe in free will. Do we have a choice?

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.

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

If you keep saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.

When literature becomes overly erudite, it means that interest in the art has gone and curiosity about the artist is what's important. It becomes a kind of idolatry.