You didnt grow up in the shadow of John Steinbeck. He put you on his shoulders and gave you all the light you wanted.

The biggest impact my father had on my life was teaching the importance of literacy.

For someone who loves literature, and all books on principle, being asked to name three titles over a half century of serious reading is akin to asking one to recall their three favorite sunsets.

My father thought of himself as a tradesman. A craftsman.

My father valued patriotism above all other social obligations, but he had his own particular interpretation of just how true patriotism was meant to function.

I like writing, but I write for self-improvement more than I do for money.

My father believed, like Pericles, that a mans genius could be easily judged by the number of unenlightened fools set in phalanx against his ideas.

Plot makes the character just as history makes the man.

I started writing serious books so late because I knew Id be accused of riding on my fathers coattails.

Since I cant write the greatest American novel, Im going to write the longest American novel.

If you think that political correctness is no big deal, just remember that the communists started by eliminating inconvenient people and ended by eliminating inconvenient people.

There will always be a moment to feel sorry for the mistakes, but indeed it is not today.

The rush I got from crime was better than that of glue, drink or hash. I loved playing cat and mouse with the local coppers. He Who Dares Wins, the SAS motto, was very applicable to my life then.

I can never decide whether my dreams are the result of my thoughts, or my thoughts the result of my dreams.

As debate is rare in the House of Representatives, since nearly all real business is done in the committees, it is very natural that such debate as there is should be very oratorical, should be

The man who insists he as good as anybody, believes he is better.

There ought to be some sign in a book about man, that the writer knows thoroughly one man at least.

Enrolling your child in a recreational sport sponsored by your neighborhood recreation community centers is a great way to keep kids active.

Success is somebody else's failure.

This sleep is sound indeed; this is a sleep That from this golden rigol hath divorc'd So many English kings.