Heavenly witnesses are a tricky lot, to be used by whoever is closest to Heaven at the time. And legend and theology, which are designed to sanctify our fears, crimes, and aspirations, also reveal them for what they are.

Unless a writer is extremely old when he dies, in which case he has probably become a neglected institution, his death must always be seen as untimely. This is because a real writer is always shifting and changing and searching. The world has many labels for him, of which the most treacherous is the label of Success.

The past is what makes the present coherent, and the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly.

We can make America what America must become.

Whatever you describe to another person is also a revelation of who you are and who you think you are. You can not describe anything without betraying your point of view, your aspirations, your fears, your hopes. Everything.

If you think too far ahead, if you even try to think too far ahead, you'll never make it.

Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didn't have it and thought of other things if you did.