Did it [cocaine] for about eight years. Not a terribly long time to be an addict I guess, but it is longer than World War II.

I think it is harder to write a story that appeals to the intellect. But, when you tie onto one, you can do it quite deeply. It really depends on the type of idea you have to begin with.

...knowing that to be a librarian was to come as close as any human being can to sitting in the peak-seat of eternity's engine.

Give a man or woman back his self-respect, and in most cases-not all, but most-you also give back that person's ability to think with at least some clarity.

When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re done, you have to step back and look at the forest.

Writing is like a little hole in reality that you can go through and you can get out and you can be someplace else for a while.

You see something, then it clicks with something else, and it will make a story. But you never know when it's going to happen.