As my friend George Oppen once said to me about getting old: what a strange thing to happen to a little boy.

Chance is an element of life. What I try to do is study what I call the mechanics of reality as carefully as I can.

Cities - I'm attracted to them, and I have a special attachment to New York...it's my place.

There's hope for everyone. That's what makes the world go round.

We have missed him in the sunshine, in the storm, in the twilight, ever since.

The most deeply personal of my works are the non-fiction works, the autobiographical works, because there, I'm talking about myself very directly.

Every man is the author of his own life.