“I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectations of rewards or punishments after I am dead.”

“Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.”

“You are reading a bold and universal headline which says ,’I am here, I am here, I am here.”

“If I am ever put to death on the hook, expect a very human performance.”

“I had taught myself that a human being might as well look for diamond tiaras in the gutter as for rewards and punishments that were fair.”

“But I replied that what made being alive almost worthwhile for me, besides music, was all the saints I met, who could be anywhere. By saints I meant people who behaved decently in a strikingly indecent society.”

“I have been a writer since 1949. I am self-taught. I have no theories about writing that might help others. When I write, I simply become what I seemingly must become. I am six feet two and weigh nearly two hundred pounds and am badly coordinated, except when I swim. All that borrowed meat does the writing. In the water I am beautiful. ”