You have to attempt to find new forms that will force you to write freshly and better and hopefully more truthfully.

We live in a material world, not a dramatic one.

I'm afraid a lot of people have lost a lot of money over the years betting on me.

Writing about sex at length is a bit like describing mastication at length. It's the causes and the consequences and the meaning of it that are interesting, not the anatomical descriptions.

When forging money, I had always salved my conscience by concluding that I was merely extending the lie of commerce.

A good book ... leaves you wanting to reread the book. A great book compels you to reread your own soul.

The idea of the past is as useless as the idea of the future. Both could be invoked by anybody about anything. There is never any more beauty than there is now. There is no more joy or wonder or sorrow than there is now, nor perfection, nor any more evil nor any more good than there is now.