The more you learn, the less you fear. "Learn" not in the sense of academic study, but in the practical understanding of life.

What is the easiest, the most comfortable thing for a writer to do? To congratulate the society in which he lives: to admire its biceps, applaud its progress, tease it endearingly about its follies.

He didn’t really like travel, of course. He liked the idea of travel, and the memory of travel, but not travel itself.

One of the troubles is this: the heart isn't heart-shaped.

Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that's too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.

If the writer were more like a reader, he’d be a reader, not a writer. It’s as uncomplicated as that.

I have an instinct for survival, for self-preservation.