I don't think anyone should be banned. If you don't like a book, set it aside.

I'm not sure anyone can understand a whole life, even their own.

For a writer, obsession is a good substitute for self-discipline.

Those books of mine that are remunerative - I'm not talking about poetry here - take years to write, and I am never sure they'll be successful. So writing is a risk in more senses than one.

I think if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well. And worth thinking about it as well.

Music, such music, is a sufficient gift. Why ask for happiness; why hope not to grieve? It is enough, it is to be blessed enough, to live from day to day and to hear such music-not too much, or the soul could not sustain it-from time to time.

I don't pick and choose subjects or settings; they pick and choose me.