The president we get is the country we get. With each new president the nation is conformed spiritually.

I've always felt, as a writer, that radicals are fascinating because they're relations, they have a place in the American family. They're the relatives everyone wishes would go away. They're the embarrassments to decorum and good taste.

I have committed many sins in my life. This precise sin-the sin against poets-is without absolution.

The theory of the teacher with all these immigrant kids was that if you spoke English loudly enough they would eventually understand.

Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.

I've had very little experience in my life. In fact, I try to avoid experience if I can. Most experience is bad.