“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”

“Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing. ”

“...if justice cannot be made to operate under the worst possible conditions of social hysteria, what does it matter how it operates at other times?”

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing.”

“Orthodox devotions that do not let in the light of modern knowledge are no more than a form of ancestor worship.”

“You're nothing more than a clever prostitute. You accepted the conditions in which you found yourself and you triumphed.”

“Writing teachers invariably tell students, write about what you know. That's, of course, what you have to do, but on the other hand, how do you know what you know until you've written it? Writing is knowing... I've had very little experience in my life. In fact, I try to avoid experience if I can. Most experience is bad.”