When I read it ["Tough Guys Don't Dance"], I don't wince, which is all I ever ask for a book I write.

I really am a pessimist. I've always felt that fascism is a more natural governmental condition than democracy. Democracy is a grace. It's something essentially splendid because it's not at all routine or automatic. Fascism goes back to our infancy and childhood, where we were always told how to live. We were told, Yes, you may do this; no, you may not do that. So the secret of fascism is that it has this appeal to people whose later lives are not satisfactory.

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

Culture is worth a little risk.

The great power in America is the corporations - we`re a corporate country. We`re run by a CEO and the stockholders have very little to say on how the corporation is run. Fine, the board of directors run it and the stockholders can just be disgruntled, but who gives a damn?

The nightmare in every democracy, the very nightmare, is if it gets worse and worse and worse, we could end up totalitarian.

You're gambling with something vital. Most writers get smashed egos.