The problem is fundamental... It is as if a secret committee, now lost to history, has made a study of children and, having figured out what the greatest number were least disposed to declared that all of them should do it.

When writers stop believing in their own stories, readers tend to sense it.

You do the right thing even if it makes you feel bad. The purpose of life is not to be happy but to be worthy of happiness.

I know that to write you have to have stories you want to tell. You have to keep your mind alive, and you have to work hard.

Things were here before you and will be here after you're gone. The geographic features, especially, give you a sense of your own place in the world and in time

I wrote a novel about the combat experiences I didn't have in Vietnam.

I do believe in God. I think God has given so much power to people, and intelligence, and said, 'Well, you are on your own. Maybe I'm tired, I need a nap. You are mature. Why don't you look after yourselves?' And I think He's been sleeping too much.