Language is an archaeological vehicle... the language we speak is a whole palimpsest of human effort and history.

When you suffer an attack of nerves you're being attacked by the nervous system. What chance has a man got against a system?.

When I write a book, I don't have a plan or an outline. The characters move the action, and the action develops the characters. When I write a book, I become an actor, really, taking the role of the person who is speaking or acting at the time, and so their reactions to whatever they see are my reactions.

Fidelity is a matter of perception; nobody is unfaithful to the sea or to mountains or to death: once recognized they fill the heart.

And now it seems she's on my wavelength. That's all I need. My mind isn't much of a comfort to me but at least I thought it was private.

But when I don't smoke I scarcely feel as if I'm living. I don't feel as if I'm living unless I'm killing myself.

My generation was somewhat between things, neither free nor much supported by whatever held us in.