Writing nonfiction is more like sculpture, a matter of shaping the research into the finished thing.

I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be

Americans are uneasy with their possessions, guilty about power, all of which is difficult for Europeans to perceive because they are themselves so truly materialistic, so versed in the uses of power.

You aren't sure if you're making the right decision - about anything, ever.

People tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does. That is one last thing to remember. Writers are always selling somebody out.

New York is full of people . . . with a feeling for the tangential adventure, the risky adventure, the interlude that's not likely to end in any double-ring ceremony.

The ability to think for one's self depends upon one's mastery of the language.