what a writer does is to try to make sense of life. I think that's what writing is, I think that's what painting is. It's seeking that thread of order and logic in the disorder, and the incredible waste and marvelous profligate character of life. What all artists are trying to do is to make sense of life.

A desert is a place without expectation.

In a certain sense a writer is 'selected' by his subject - his subject being the consciousness of his own era.

I couldn't be sufficiently interested in human beings to be a writer if I had contempt for human beings.

The solitude of writing is also quite frightening. It's quite close to madness, one just disappears for a day and loses touch.

You can't be afraid to do good in case evil results.

I'm a candle flame that sways in currents of air you can't see. You need to be the one who steadies me to burn.