A good novel is a conjunction of many factors, the main of which is without a doubt, hard work.

That is one thing I am sure of amid my many uncertainties regarding the literary vocation: deep inside, a writer feels that writing is the best thing that ever happened to him, or could ever happen to him, because as far as he is concerned, writing is the best possible way of life, never mind the social, political, or financial rewards of what he might achieve through it.

Revolution will free society of its afflictions, while science will free the individual of his.

No matter how ephemeral it is, a novel is something, while despair is nothing.

North American society could not have reached its state of high development and modernity had it not been an open society.

I don't accept the idea that literature can be just entertainment and that there is no consequences of literature in the real world.

I couldn't imagine any other way of living, outside of books, outside my work. Which doesn't mean I am not interested in other things, of course - I am interested in many things. But the center, the crux, is always literature.