I was a very sickly kid. While I was in the hospital at age 7, my Dad brought me a stack of comic books to keep me occupied. I was hooked.

A true friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else.

Art is always in the eyes of the beholder. Only posterity has the right to point out our mistakes.

When I'm my own editor, there's very little difference between the first draft and the final. I write what feels right to begin with. I rarely make any major changes.

It all depends on which side of the desk you're sitting on.

I always wanted to fire rays out of my fingertips.

I think jazz and comic books are probably the two uniquely American art forms.

In general, shorter is better. If you can encapsulate your idea into a single captivating sentence, you're halfway home.

A writer writes. Period. No matter if someone is buying your work or not.

Unfortunately, there are writers whose only concern is how good they could make themselves look on a title.

I realized the only thing I owed my audience was my own judgment and my own best effort.

...[O]ne of the first things a Magnolia League debutante learns: Keep your thoughts and opinions to yourself.

I see courage everywhere I go in Africa.

The child has a primary need to be regarded and respected as the person he really is at any given time, and as the center - the central actor - in his own activity.

Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering.

Do dead man dream? The dead themselves are silent on the matter

The basis of self-discipline: Don't allow the edges to blur.

I don't feel restricted by the language: I feel more free.

When you give without reservation, you’ll become a magnet that pulls the world toward you.

I've always had this juxtaposition of characters, because I'm an artist. I'm a very quiet person at home and introspective and the whole deal, and then I can be really big later. I had no problem.

The road to tyranny, we must never forget, begins with the destruction of the truth.