If the writer were more like a reader, he’d be a reader, not a writer. It’s as uncomplicated as that.

The greatest patriotism is to tell your country when it is behaving dishonorably, foolishly, viciously.

The writer must be universal in sympathy and an outcast by nature: only then can he see clearly.

What is the easiest, the most comfortable thing for a writer to do? To congratulate the society in which he lives: to admire its biceps, applaud its progress, tease it endearingly about its follies.

Women scheme when they are weak, they lie out of fear. Men scheme when they are strong, they lie out of arrogance.

The best form of government is one that is dying, because that means it’s giving way to something else.

Irony - The modern mode: either the devil’s mark or the snorkel of sanity.

The best life for a writer is the life which helps him write the best books he can.

He didn’t really like travel, of course. He liked the idea of travel, and the memory of travel, but not travel itself.

To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness - though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless.

Everything you invent is true: you can be sure of that. Poetry is a subject as precise as geometry.

...and the vessel was not full, his intellect was not satisfied, his soul was not at peace, his heart was not still.

For several people the challenge with the dream isn't bread & butter but the luxury.

Princess, princess, youngest daughter, Open up and let me in!Or else your promise by the waterIsn’t worth a rusty pin.Keep your promise, royal daughter, Open up and let me in!

None of us and none of the Arabs trust Israel.

The history of science can be viewed as the recasting of phenomena that were once thought to be accidents as phenomena that can be understood in terms of fundamental causes and principles.

I lost my second marriage because of drinking, and I loved the woman very much. But I thought I needed booze to write. I'm glad I was disabused.

It is the greatest game that I've ever been around. It'll continue to get better and be the greatest.

Oh continue to love me, never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved. Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours.

There's always tons of crap music people are trying to sell us - [it's] the same way with publishers and galleries.

I am being ripped off, because I've never lied to the press. Just as much truth I bring to my work, a journalist should bring that much truth to their work.