The idea of a good society is something you do not need a religion and eternal punishment to buttress; you need a religion if you are terrified of death.

Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.

Ultimately, totalitarianism is the only sort of politics that can truly serve the sky-god’s purpose. Any movement of a liberal nature endangers his authority and that of his delegates on earth. One God, one King, one Pope, one master in the factory, one father-leader in the family at home.

A satirist is a man profoundly revolted by the society in which he lives. His rage takes the form of wit, ridicule, mockery.

The creation of a work of art, like an act of love, is our one small “yes” at the center of a vast “no.”

It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.

of Truman Capote ’s death:

Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.

When I hear about writer’s block, this one and that one! Fuck off! Stop writing, for Christ’s sake: You’re not meant to be doing this. Plenty more where you came from.

Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.