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Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing.
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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.
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Levin wanted friendship and got friendliness; he wanted steak and they offered spam.
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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.
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It was all those biographies in me yelling, 'We want out. We want to tell you what we’ve done to you.'
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Without heroes, we are all plain people and don't know how far we can go.
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A writer is a spectator, looking at everything with a highly critical eye.
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I don't think you can do anything for anyone without giving up something of your own.
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I work with language. I love the flowers of afterthought.
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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.
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If you ever forget you're a Jew, a Gentile will remind you.
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'Mourning is a hard business,' Cesare said. 'If people knew there'd be less death.'
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The idea is to get the pencil moving quickly.
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Those who write about life, reflect about life. you see in others who you are.