What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one's heroic ancestors.

The determination to outwit one's situation means that one has no models, only object lessons.

We can make America what America must become.

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.

A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.

The victim who is able to articulate the situation of the victim has ceased to be a victim: he or she has become a threat.

Rage cannot be hidden, it can only be dissembled. This dissembling deludes the thoughtless, and strengthens rage and adds, to rage, contempt.