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

I think the internet is the greatest waste of time since masturbation was discovered.

I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension.

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

Over the years, I've found one rule. It is the only one I give on those occasions when I talk about writing. A simple rule. If you tell yourself you are going to be at your desk tomorrow, you are by that declaration asking your unconscious to prepare the material. You are, in effect, contracting to pick up such valuables at a given time. Count on me, you are saying to a few forces below: I will be there to write.

I don't trust a man who uses the word evil eighteen times in ten minutes. If you're half evil, nothing soothes you more than to think the person you are opposed to is totally evil.