“It kills me how these days everyone has clinical justification for their strangeness.”

“Oh, how wonderfully romantic of you. Romantics are really only in love with themselves.”

“History is changed by martyrs who tell the truth.”

“To be an honest writer, you have to be away from home, and totally alone in life.”

“Oh, sweetheart. What can anyone do? That's just the way things are. You really think you can change the world?”

“Literature is an ethical leap. It is a moral decision. A perilous exercise in constant failure. Literature should have grievances, because there are so many grievances in the world.”

“I am a person before I am anything else. I never say I am a writer. I never say I am an artist...I am a person who does those things.”

“The point, I decided, wasn't to have the autobiography or even the memories. The point was who I became when I wrote.”

“The willingness to reach inside every part of yourself opens the door to total understanding. You place your entire identity on the line, not just an isolated part. This may sound daunting, but act...”