-
One can't make pure clay of time's mud. There is no life that can be recaptured wholly; as it was. Which is to say that all biography is ultimately fiction.
-
Levin wanted friendship and got friendliness; he wanted steak and they offered spam.
-
Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing.
-
I think I said 'All men are Jews except they don't know it.' I doubt I expected anyone to take the statement literally. But I think it's an understandable statement and a metaphoric way of indicating how history, sooner or later, treats all men.
-
It was all those biographies in me yelling, 'We want out. We want to tell you what we’ve done to you.'
-
Without heroes, we are all plain people and don't know how far we can go.
-
A writer is a spectator, looking at everything with a highly critical eye.
-
I don't think you can do anything for anyone without giving up something of your own.
-
There comes a time in a man's life when to get where he has to go - if there are no doors or windows he walks through a wall.
-
If you ever forget you're a Jew, a Gentile will remind you.
-
'Mourning is a hard business,' Cesare said. 'If people knew there'd be less death.'
-
I work with language. I love the flowers of afterthought.
-
Those who write about life, reflect about life. you see in others who you are.
-
The idea is to get the pencil moving quickly.