salvation is for the feeble, that's what I think. I don't want salvation, I want life, all of life, the miserable as well as the superb.

What is politics, after all, but the compulsion to preside over property and make other peoples' decisions for them?

There are times when we can feel destiny close around us like a fist around a doorknob. Sure, we can resist. But a knob that won't turn, a door that sticks and never budges, is a nuisance to the gods. The gods may kick in the jamb. Worse, they may walk away in disgust, leaving us to hang dumbly from our tight hinges, deprived of any other chance in life to swing open into unnecessary risk and thus into enchantment.

Never be afraid to love, not even when there's a chance you're not being loved in return.

We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.

My paintings are very strange - large and empty, like walls. Just the opposite of my writing, which is rich and juicy.

In the beginning was the thing. And one thing led to another.