Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.

As writers, we are exploring the mystery, the mystery of existence.

I believe - I know (there are not many things I should care to dogmatize about, on the subject of writing) that writers need solitude, and seek alienation of a kind every day of their working lives. (And remember, they are not even aware when and when not they are working.) ... The tension between standing apart and being fully involved; that is what makes a writer.

A truly living human being cannot remain neutral.

Communists are the last optimists.

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

A child understands fear, and the hurt and hate it brings.