The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock - shock is a worn-out word - but read more

The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock - shock is a worn-out word - but astonish.

Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.

Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.

Good writing gives energy, whatever it is about.

Good writing gives energy, whatever it is about.

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean

Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all read more

Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals.

The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis.

The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis.

The problem with writing about religion is that you run the risk of offending sincerely religious people, and then they read more

The problem with writing about religion is that you run the risk of offending sincerely religious people, and then they come after you with machetes.

I must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is read more

I must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living.

Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness

Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness