A novel is a machine for generating interpretations.

The more things you know, or pretend to know, the more powerful you are. It doesn't matter if the things are true. What counts, remember, is to possess a secret.

The problem with the Internet is that it gives you everything - reliable material and crazy material. So the problem becomes, how do you discriminate?

If photography is to be likened to perception, this is not because the former is a natural process but because the latter is also coded.

Fools are in great demand, especially on social occasions. They embarrass everyone but provide material for conversation. In their positive form, they become diplomats.

We live for books. A sweet mission in this world dominated by disorder and decay.

When I went from being an academic to being a member of the community of writers some of my former colleagues did look on me with a certain resentment.