While reading writers of great formulatory power — Henry James, Santayana, Proust — I find I can scarcely get through a page without having to stop to record some lapidary sentence. Reading Henry James, for example, I have muttered to myself, "C’mon, Henry, turn down the brilliance a notch, so I can get some reading done." I may be one of a very small number of people who have developed writer’s cramp while reading.

Not to like ice cream is to show oneself uninterested in food.

What distinguishes us one from another is our dreams, and what we do to make them come about.

Always seek the general and never quite trust it.

Courage is nine-tenths context. What is courageous in one setting can be foolhardy in another and even cowardly in a third.

I just know so many people who have six or seven foreign languages and have read everything and have musical training and they are still dorks

I think the story is my form.