Although most of us know Vincent van Gogh in Arles and Paul Gauguin in Tahiti as if they were neighbors -- somewhat disreputable but endlessly fascinating -- none of us can name two French generals or department store owners of that period. I take enormous pride in considering myself an artist, one of the necessaries.

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

If your book doesn't keep you up nights when you are writing it, it won't keep anyone up nights reading it.

Although most of us know Vincent van Gogh in Arles and Paul Gauguin in Tahiti as if they were neighbors -- somewhat disreputable but endlessly fascinating -- none of us can name two French generals or department store owners of that period. I take enormous pride in considering myself an artist, one of the necessaries.

It was the silent time before dawn, along the shores of what had been one of the most beautiful lakes in southern Africa.

I am terrified of restrictive religious doctrine, having learned from history that when men who adhere to any form of it are in control, common men like me are in peril.

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.