Writers are the exorcists of their own demons.

The writer’s job is to write with rigor, with commitment, to defend what they believe with all the talent they have. I think that’s part of the moral obligation of a writer, which cannot be only purely artistic. I think a writer has some kind of responsibility at least to participate in the civic debate. I think literature is impoverished, if it becomes cut from the main agenda of people, of society, of life.

I convinced her that her first loyalty isn't to other people, but to her own feelings.

The worst thing that can happen to an artist is to be subsidized by the state. It leads to an intellectual and artistic castration.

We were trained as writers with the idea that literature is something that can change reality, that it's not just a very sophisticated entertainment, but a way to act.

I write because I'm unhappy. I write because it's a way of fighting unhappiness.

No democracy is born perfect, and none ever gets to be perfect. Yet democracy is superior to authoritarian and totalitarian regimes because, unlike them, democracy is perfectible.