"War gives men a plain-and-simple something to do ... Women write diaries in the hope that their words will beckon fate." It's a romantic manifesto.

I think I'm out of crime fiction now, and I think the dividing line is American Tabloid.

I almost had an intransigent mental spirit. I always wanted things.

I don't think I will write anything that could be even remotely considered a genre novel from this point on. I think I've graduated.

Anybody who doesn't know that politics is crime has got a few screws loose.

I wanted things. Whatever it cost and whatever it took, I would do it. And that's it.

How did I change my life? I wanted things. I wanted women and I wanted to write books.