People move forward into the future out of the way they comprehend the past. When we don't understand something in our past, we are therefore crippled.

A book of great beauty and manically exquisite insight with a wild and deadly humor . . . The only American novelist who may conceivably be possessed by genius.

The condition that is most disagreeable in your life becomes the most useful one. You know, I feel the same way about the U.S. Army. It was absolutely the worst experience of my life, and it was probably the single most valuable experience.

There are two kinds of brave men: those who are brave by the grace of nature, and those who are brave by an act of will.

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.

It all comes down to who does the dishes.

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.