The end of man is knowledge, but [man] can't know whether knowledge will save him or kill him; whether he is killed because of the knowledge which he has got or because of the knowledge which he hasn't got and which if he had it would save him.

Most writers are trying to find what they think or feel. . . . not simply working from the given, but toward the given, saying the unsayable and steadily asking, "What do I really feel about this?"

I think the greatest curse of American society has been the idea of an easy millennialism -- that some new drug, or the next election or the latest in social engineering will solve everything.

I've been to a lot of places and done a lot of things, but writing was always first. It's a kind of pain I can't do without.

A young man's ambition [is] to get along in the world and make a place for himself half your life goes that way, till you're 45 or 50. Then, if you're lucky, you make terms with life, you get released.