A work of art is one of mystery, the one extreme magic; everything else is either arithmetic or biology.

[L]ove, having no geography, knows no boundaries.

Talent, and genius as well, is like a grain of pearl sand shifting about in the creative mind. A valued tormentor.

I knew Lee Harvey Oswald, and I knew Jack Kennedy. The odds against that-one person knowing all four of those men-must be astounding.

Many universities have asked me to come for a semester but I don't want to do it because I don't have the patience.

One day, I started writing, not knowing that I had chained myself for life to a noble but merciless master. When God hands you a gift, he also hands you a whip; and the whip is intended solely for self-flagellation... I'm here alone in my dark madness, all by myself with my deck of cards - and, of course, the whip God gave me.

As long as you live, there's always something waiting; and even if it's bad, and you know it's bad, what can you do? You can't stop living.