I think fame is something that you've achieved in your inner self that becomes known to others outside you. There are really very few famous people in history.

Publishers seem to be in an alcoholic haze most of the time. Well, the publishers have no idea what a writer is.

There's the world of the newspapers. They believe that what is happening is happening, which is so naïve. Because they're the first to turn on that.

None of my books are best-sellers. In fact, the only thing that's kept me alive is the books that are in paperback. People find them, they like them, and they pass them on.

The public is totally illiterate in America. It can't read at all. It's absolutely insensitive to words.

I am against all machines. It's no wonder that so many Americans go on dope when they have no other cultural stimulus than a television.

New York establishment isn't really a literary establishment. It's just a collection of broken down old newspaper hacks who pass judgment on books that they have not even read, with assuredness of Jehova.