Morality Is A Test Of Our Conformity

The Kinds Of Good Friends I Have Are People Who Are Perfectly Willing To Have Me Say I'll See Them In Six Months, And Live Right Next Door.

Casino Owners Spoke More Loudly Than Any Of The Other Kings Of Industry To Defend Their Contribution To Society. They Could Speak More Loudly Because Theirs Was The Purest Activity Of Civilized Man. They Had Transcended The Need For A Product. They Could Maintain And Advance Life With Machines That Made Nothing But Money.

Writing Is Far Too Hard Work To Say What Someone Else Wants Me To. Serving It As A Craft, Using It As A Way Of Growing In My Own Understanding, Seems To Me To Be A Beautiful Way To Live. And If That Product Is Shareable With Other People, So Much The Better.

I Remember How Surprised I Was When My First Novel Was About To Be Published And I Was Informed That I Could Be Sued For Anything Any One Of My Characters Said. 'but I Often Don't Agree With What They Say,' I Protested. The Lawyer Was Not Interested In The Clear Distinction I Make Between My Own Voice And The Voices Of My Characters. Neither, I Have Found, Are Many Of My Readers.

Conventions, Like Clichés, Have A Way Of Surviving Their Own Usefulness.