Elections are a Western jerk-off.

You can't make war against terror. Terror is a technique of battle. It's a tactic that has been employed since time immemorial. You can conduct clandestine action against terrorists, and that must be done.

A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.

And the ideologies trailed after these impossible events like condemned prisoners, as ideologies do when they've had their day. Because they have no heart of their own. They're the whores and angels of our striving selves.

Thank heaven, though, one of the few mistakes I haven't made is to talk about the unwritten book.

My definition of a decent society is one that first of all takes care of its losers, and protects its weak.

Every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction writer would rather be credible than authentic.