We're going to become the martians when we land there. When we explore and build communities, we become the martians. That's a wonderful destiny for all of us.

Libraries are the center of our lives. There's no use going to a university if you don't live at the library.

I don't believe in government. I hate politics. I'm against it. And I hope that sometime this fall, we can destroy part of our government, and next year destroy even more of it. The less government, the happier I will be.

I believe in having fun first, and along the way, if you teach people, if you influence people, well and good.

The most improbable tales can be made believable, if your reader, through his sense, feels certain that he stands at the middle of events.

You can’t learn to write in college. It’s a very bad place for writers because the teachers always think they know more than you do—and they don’t. They have prejudices. They may like Henry James, but what if you don’t want to write like Henry James? They may like John Irving, for instance, who’s the bore of all time. A lot of the people whose work they’ve taught in the schools for the last thirty years, I can’t understand why people read them and why they are taught.

Love what you do and do what you love. Don't listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. Imagination should be the center of your life.