Everyone realizes that one can believe little of what people say about each other. But it is not so widely realized that even less can one trust what people say about themselves.

All good biography, as all good fiction, comes down to the study of original sin, of our inherent disposition to choose death when we ought to choose life.

Writing has nothing to do with communication between person and person, only with communication between different parts of a person's mind.

I have never been able to write with anything more than the left hand of my mind; the right hand has always been engaged in something to do with personal relationships. I don't complain, because I think my left hand's power, as much as it has, is due to its knowledge of what my right hand is doing.

music is a missionary effort to colonize earth for imperialistic heaven.

Nobody ever wrote a good book simply by collecting a number of accurate facts and valid ideas.

I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet?