Every European goes on the streets and sees medieval churches. Not if you live in Indianapolis. The most exciting letters I received were from people in places like that.

New Orleans is not in the grip of a neurosis of a denied past; it passes out memories generously like a great lord; it doesn't have to pursue "the real thing."

I have to admit that I only read War and Peace when I was 40. But I knew the basics before then.

Nothing is more fleeting than external form, which withers and alters like the flowers of the field at the appearance of autumn.

With all of its defects, the global market makes war less likely, even between the USA and China.

True learning must not be content with ideas, which are, in fact, signs, but must discover things in their individual truth.

I wrote a novel because I had a yen to do it. I believe this is sufficient reason to set out to tell a story.