There are these two kinds of patriotism. There's blind patriotism, unflagging patriotism. And then there's the patriotism that says I live in a democracy and it's very important for the health and the life of this democracy that it get better all the time, not get worse.

Giving a camera to Diane Arbus is like putting a live grenade in the hands of a child.

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

Since great writers communicate a vision of existence, one can't borrow their methods. The method is married to the vision.

The sole virtue of losing your short-term memory is that it does free you to be your own editor.

Chicago was a town where nobody could forget how the money was made. It was picked up from floors still slippery with blood.

Each day a few more lies eat into the seed with which we are born, little institutional lies from the print of newspapers, the shock waves of television, and the sentimental cheats of the movie screen.