Memory is identity....You are what you have done; what you have done is in your memory; what you remember defines who you are; when you forget your life you cease to be, even before your death.

Often the grind of book promotion wearies you of your own book - though at the same time this frees you from its clutches.

Why does the writing make us chase the writer? Why can't we leave well enough alone? Why aren't the books enough?

Novels tell us the most truth about life: what it is, how we live it, what it might be for, how we enjoy and value it, and how we lose it.

WHORES. Necessary in the nineteenth century for the contraction of syphilis, without which no one could claim genius.

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

As I've explained to my wife many times, you have to kill your wife or mistress to get on the front page of the papers.