“dialectics, as a veteran communist explained . . . 'is the art and technique of always landing on your feet.”

“That Hegelian dialectics should provide a wonderful instrument for always being right, because they permit the interpretations of all defeats as the beginning of victory, is obvious. One of the most beautiful examples of this kind of sophistry occurred after 1933 when the German Communists for nearly two years refused to recognize that Hitler's victory had been a defeat for the German Communist Party.”

“If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?”

“Let your fiction grow out of the land beneath your feet.”

“What are you doing with the child?" I inquired cautiously."I'm teachin' young James here the fine art of not pissing on his feet," he explained.”

“It’s easier and sociabler to talk technique than it is to make art.”