You should let dialogue get as nearly out of control as you can. Characters should say what they say to each other instead of what they mean to say. The worst purpose of dialogue is to elicit information: "You know why we're out on this space station, Carruthers - to save the universe!"

What you're trying to do when you write is to crowd the reader out of his own space and occupy it with yours, in a good cause. You're trying to take over his sensibility and deliver an experience that moves from mere information.

Everybody's after a new morning. What do we have to run up and salute tomorrow?

It's easy to create a country, all you have to do is to think of a name for it

I try very hard to be fair, and I look for ironies. In a way, I live on ironies as a novelist.

You don't want to depend on an editor. If you want to regret something for the rest of your life, you want to make sure you're responsible for it.

It’s hard to stay away from religion when you mess with acid.