Among the repulsions of atheism for me has been its drastic uninterestingness as an intellectual position.

I'm not against TV; I don't go on the morning talk shows because I'm not invited. If I was, I might go.

Phyllis explained to him, trying to give of her deeper self, 'Don't you find it so beautiful, math? Like an endless sheet of gold chains, each link locked into the one before it, the theorems and functions, one thing making the next inevitable. It's music, hanging there in the middle of space, meaning nothing but itself, and so moving...'

One of the cool, chaste countries - Canada or Sweden.

Our tears fatten upon our memories of joy.

If you look at the best-seller list, it is mostly thrillers. Very few books attempt to create an image of the life we live. I knew there were writers who wore tweed coats and lived in Connecticut and somehow made a living, and that's what I aimed to do. I've tried to write as well as I can with books that say something to any reader.

Hoping to fashion a mirror, the lover doth polish the face of his beloved until he produces a skull.