The lessons taught in great books are misleading. The commerce in life is rarely so simple and never so just.

Great writers are the saints for the godless.

Writing novels preserves you in a state of innocence - a lot passes you by - simply because your attention is otherwise diverted.

The evening passes somehow; I watch television with Nancy, or I write. It is difficult, not having a family, and it is difficult to explain. I always go to bed early. And I am always ready for Monday morning, that time that other people dread.

To remain pure, a novel has to cast a moral puzzle. Anything else is mere negotiation.

Writing has freed me from the despair of living.