I have often noticed that after I had bestowed on the characters of my novels some treasured item of my past, it would pine away in the artificial world where I had so abruptly placed it.

Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.

And the rest is rust and stardust.

Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.

Mind you, sometimes the angels smoke, hiding it with their sleeves, and when the archangel comes, they throw the cigarettes away: that’s when you get shooting stars.

Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.

There are aphorisms that, like airplanes, stay up only while they are in motion.

I think it is all a matter of love: the more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is.

Loneliness as a situation can be corrected, but as a state of mind it is an incurable illness.

The Lord made no better clock than a child, and none more bitter. Oh, what beautiful clocks they are.

I got tired of the Ramones around the time I quit and I really got into rap. I thought it was the new punk rock. LL Cool J was my biggest idol.

Students are rewarded for memorization, not imagination or resourcefulness.

Critics of Fox News have pointed out that Fox News does partisan propaganda, and there's ample evidence on a daily basis.

What inspires me may not inspire someone else.

To say, my fate is not tied to your fate, is like saying your end of the boat is sinking.

I have respectfully declined the president's invitation to the White House today.

I am actually very in touch with all of my emotions, from joy to pain, and I am free with them.

I could be anything I wanted because I was an American. And I hope that that's really what's propelled me into public service.

Make an effort to serve good bread and good meat and not to sell the better wine so as to serve what is inferior.