Fear . . . is forward. No one is afraid of yesterday.

Nice criticism is good when it tells you something. A lot of negative "criticism" isn't criticism at all: it's just nasty, "writerly" cliché and invective.

In the strange heat all litigation brings to bear on things, the very process of litigation fosters the most profound misunderstandings in the world.

Most movies are not very good. Most people know it and like to see them anyway.

There are so many different types of writers. It's just sheer coincidence that they're all called writers.

There follows a little obscenity here, a dash of philosophy there, considerable whining overall, and a modern satirical novel is born.

That 'writers write' is meant to be self-evident. People like to say it. I find it is hardly ever true. Writers drink. Writers rant. Writers phone. Writers sleep. I have met very few writers who write at all.