Adversity in immunological doses has its uses; more than that crushes.

It seems to me the book has not just aesthetic values - the charming little clothy box of the thing, the smell of the glue, even the print, which has its own beauty. But there's something about the sensation of ink on paper that is in some sense a thing, a phenomenon rather than an epiphenomenon. I can't break the association of electric trash with the computer screen. Words on the screen give the sense of being just another passing electronic wriggle.

It is not enough for a story to flow. It has to kind of trickle and glint as it crosses over the stones of the bare facts.

Americans have been conditioned to respect newness, whatever it costs them.

In a country this large and a language even larger ... there ought to be a living for somebody who cares and wants to entertain and instruct a reader.

A cynic is a kind of romantic who has aged.

The first breathe of adultery is the freest.