The contradictory remarks of politicians are forgotten; the more asinine predictions of pundits are buried with mercy.

Boredom slays more of existence than war.

Obsession is the single most wasteful human activity, because with an obsession you keep coming back and back and back to the same question and never get an answer.

Writer’s block is only a failure of the ego.

I had the idea that there were two worlds. There was a real world as I called it, a world of wars and boxing clubs and children'shomes on back streets, and this real world was a world where orphans burned orphans.... I liked the other world in which almost everyone lived. The imaginary world.

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.

To be married to a good woman is to live with tender surprise.