I'm forty-nine but I could be twenty-five except for my face and my legs.

it's impossible to conquer all fear and loss by preparation. There are always sources of desolation that aren't taken into account because no one knows what they will be.

when it comes to their essential faculty as writers, all writers are androgynous beings.

Written words still have the amazing power to bring out the best and worst of human nature

Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.

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

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