I take it for granted that there's a side of me that loves public action, and there's another side of me that really wants to be alone and work and write. And I've learned to alternate the two as matters develop.

The writer can grow as a person or he can shrink. ... His curiosity, his reaction to life must not diminish. The fatal thing is to shrink, to be interested in less, sympathetic to less, desiccating to the point where life itself loses its flavor, and one’s passion for human understanding changes to weariness and distaste.

You can't be a serious writer of fiction unless you believe the story you are telling.

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

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

The desire for success lubricates secret prostitution in the soul.

There is nothing safe about sex. There never will be.