I pretended not to understand. One of life's hardest jobs, to make a quick understanding slow. I think I succeeded, thought Herzog.

Let the enemies of life step down.

The writer cannot make the seas of distraction stand still, but he [or she] can at times come between the madly distracted and the distractions.

How should I know why! I didn't invent human beings, Iggy.

And what about all the good I have in my heart - does it mean anything?

A writer is a reader moved to emulation.

With a novelist, like a surgeon, you have to get a feeling that you've fallen into good hands - someone from whom you can accept the anesthetic with confidence.