This monster of a land, this mightiest of nations, this spawn of the future, turns out to be the macrocosm of microcosm me.

I know now why confusion in government is not only tolerated but encouraged. I have learned. A confused people can make no clear demands.

A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers. Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his measure. Some pick out parts and reject the rest, some strain the story through their mesh of prejudice, some paint it with their own delight. A story must have some points of contact with the reader to make him feel at home in it. Only then can he accept wonders.

There's a responsibility in being a person. It's more than just taking up space where air would be.

Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard.

What some people find in religion a writer may find in his craft...a kind of breaking through to glory.

I do not find illness an eminence, and I do not understand how people can use it to draw attention to themselves since the attention they draw is nearly always reluctantly given and unpleasantly carried out.