The writer learns to write, in the last resort, only by writing. He must get words onto paper even if he is dissatisfied with them. A young writer must cross many psychological barriers to acquire confidence in his capacity to produce good work-especially his first full-length book-and he cannot do this by staring at a piece of blank paper, searching for the perfect sentence.

As a child I found railroad stations exciting, mysterious, and even beautiful, as indeed they often were.

To many, Heathrow in August is a paradigm of Hell.

For me this is the vital litmus test: no intellectual society can flourish where a Jew feels even slightly uneasy.

In 1924 Mao took a Chinese friend, newly arrived from Europe, to see the notorious sign in the Shanghai park, 'Chinese and Dogs Not Allowed'.

The writer learns to write, in the last resort, only by writing. He must get words onto paper even if he is dissatisfied with them.

The most socially subversive institution of our time is the one-parent family.