America has had much more respect for its writers because they had to define what America was. America wasn't sure what it was.

My theory is - we don’t really go that far into other people, even when we think we do. We hardly ever go in and bring them out. We just stand at the jaws of the cave, and strike a match, and ask quickly if anybody’s there.

If every inhabitant of a liberal democracy believes in liberal democracy, then it doesn't matter what creed or colour they are.

He didn't want to please his readers. He wanted to stretch them until they twanged.

People are always talking on their phones, or looking at their phones, because they don't want to be alone with their thoughts.

Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without thorn.

I think novelists are in the education business, really, but they're not teaching you times tables, they are teaching you responsiveness and morality and to make nuanced judgments. And really to just make the planet look a bit richer when you go out into the street.