I become an actor, a quick-change artist, as if I can trap the Prince of Truth in the act of switching a style.

Since great writers communicate a vision of existence, one can't borrow their methods. The method is married to the vision.

The horror of the Twentieth Century was the size of each new event, and the paucity of its reverberation.

The way you write affects what you say.

Cancer is the growth of madness denied.

The final purpose of art is to intensify, even, if necessary, to exacerbate, the moral consciousness of people.

While I'm working on a book, I rarely read anything more than The New York Times. Which may have the long-term effect of flattening my style.