I'm afraid my closely guarded solitude causes some hurt feelings now and then. But how to explain, without wounding someone, that you want to be wholly in the world you are writing about, that it would take two days to get the visitor's voice out of the house so that you could listen to your own characters again?

The very secret of life for me, I believed, was to maintain in the midst of rushing events an inner tranquility.

Nothing attracts me like a closed door.

War makes its own morals.

I have always thought that if I could turn back the pages of history and photograph one man, my choice would be Moses.

The very secret of life for mewas to maintain in the midst of rushing events an inner tranquility. I had picked a life that dealt with excitement, tragedy, mass calamities, human triumphs and suffering. To throw my whole self into recording and attempting to understand these things, I needed an inner serenity as a kind of balance.

You are responsible for what you have done and the people whom you have influenced.