I write books to relieve ­myself of pain. That's the prime motivator to write. Period.

We buy balloons, we let them go.

I have to return some videotapes

The better you look, the more you see.

Writing a novel is not method acting and I find it easy to step out of it at cocktail hour.

No one ever likes the right person.

Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do?

Why was I holding on to something that would never be mine? But isn't that what people do?

But this was what happened when you didn't want to visit and confront the past: the past starts visiting and confronting you.

I like the idea of a writer being haunted by his own creation, especially if the writer resents the way the character defines him.

And as the elevator descents, passing the second floor, and the first floor, going even father down, I realize that the money doesn't matter. That all that does is that I want to see the worst

Those who were raised in poverty and have been successful to overcome the shame of it, understands the hardship of those who are left behind.

I'm a drunken midget with a loaded gun, a loaded gun.

I saw "Follies" again at thirty, and you know, I had this great appreciation for [Stephen] Sondheim's brilliance, his lyrics.

Perhaps it's rude to notice when a wizard does something strange.

Santa Fe is fun to visit, but property there will cost you an arm and a dillo.

Art or talent, for an artist, is merely a means of applying his personal faculties to the ideas and the things of the period in which he lives.

To meditate is to observe yourself, for you are totally responsible for your body, mind, thought.

In general, any form of exercise, if pursued continuously, will help train us in perseverance. Long-distance running is particularly good training in perseverance.

Be certain that you do not die without having done something wonderful for humanity.

I am brave, but I take a view. It is an educated view. I am careful. I am not reckless.