It is difficult at times to repress the thought that history is about as instructive as an abattoir; that Tacitus was right and that peace is merely the desolation left behind after the decisive operations of merciless power.

When I first encountered the name of the city of Stockholm, I little thought that I would ever visit it, never mind end up being welcomed to it as a guest of the Swedish Academy and the Nobel Foundation.

Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.

Harvard meant a lot in my writing life from the beginning, even though I didnt actually do much composition on the spot.

I always believed that whatever had to be written would somehow get itself written.

Part of my gradual education of myself has been to think that there is a deep relationship between the nature of the creature and the worth of the art.

All I know is a door into the dark