Plot makes the character just as history makes the man.

Since I cant write the greatest American novel, Im going to write the longest American novel.

The biggest impact my father had on my life was teaching the importance of literacy.

I started writing serious books so late because I knew Id be accused of riding on my fathers coattails.

My father believed, like Pericles, that a mans genius could be easily judged by the number of unenlightened fools set in phalanx against his ideas.

My father thought of himself as a tradesman. A craftsman.

My father valued patriotism above all other social obligations, but he had his own particular interpretation of just how true patriotism was meant to function.