Only another writer can know how much damage writing a novel can do to you. It's an unnatural activity to sit at a desk and squeeze words out of yourself.

At bottom, I mean profoundly at bottom, the FBI has nothing to do with Communism, it has nothing to do with catching criminals, it has nothing to do with the Mafia, the syndicate, it has nothing to do with trust-busting, it has nothing to do with interstate commerce, it has nothing to do with anything but serving as a church for the mediocre. A high church for the true mediocre.

God is a creator, not a law giver.

Simple narcissism gives the power of beasts to politicians, professional wrestlers and female movie stars.

Conservatives are people who look at a tree and feel instinctively that it is more beautiful than anything they can name. But when it comes to defending that tree against a highway, they will go for the highway.

When a novel comes, it's a grace. Something in the cosmos has forgiven you long enough so that you can start.

So the blind will lead the blind, and the deaf shout warnings to one another until their voices are lost.