My doctor told me that I really should lose some weight. "You're mildly obese," he said. And I thought, "Well, who couldn't afford to lose 20 or 30 pounds?" He said, "Well, a person in your category." I said, "What is that category, doctor?" He said, "Well, you're what I call upwardly middle aged." And I said, "I forgive you for everything."

You never get over the fear of writing.

It's very important to know the neighbor next door and the people down the street and the people in another race.

The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.

I look at some of the great novelists, and I think the reason they are great is that they're telling the truth. The fact is they're using made-up names, made-up people, made-up places, and made-up times, but they're telling the truth about the human being- what we are capable of, what makes us lose, laugh, weep, fall down, and gnash our teeth and wring our hands and kill each other and love each other.

I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve.

I think that that's the wisest thing - to prevent illness before we try to cure something.