I don’t know who my parents were. I know nothing about my inheritance. I could be Jewish; I could be part Negro; I could be Irish; I could be Russian. I am spiritually a mix anyway, but I did have a solid childhood fortunately, because of some wonderful women who brought me up. I never had a father or a man in the house, and that was a loss...

An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.

I wondered how a man ever got an English girl into bed. What did they do with her hockey stick?

The rules seem to be these: If you have written a successful novel, everyone invites you to write short stories. If you have written some good short stories, everyone wants you to write a novel. But nobody wants anything until you have already proved yourself by being published somewhere else.

The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality.

First buy a cowboy hat and boots. Then you're on your way to being a Texan.

It takes courage to know when you ought to be afraid.