The real hero is always a hero by mistake.

Sometimes my characters are not myself.

Thus I rediscovered what writers have always known (and have told us again and again): books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told.

What we honor as prudence in our elders is simply panic in action.

I felt no passion, no jealousy, no nostalgia. I was hollow, clear-headed, clean, and as emotionless as an aluminum pot.

Our most noted satirists are true columnists and their opinions can be worth more than any well-documented exposé.

Socrates ... did not write. It seems academically obvious that he perished because he did not publish!