It Takes Courage To Know

I Don’t Know Who My Parents Were. I Know Nothing About My Inheritance. I Could Be Jewish; I Could Be Part Negro; I Could Be Irish; I Could Be Russian. I Am Spiritually A Mix Anyway, But I Did Have A Solid Childhood Fortunately, Because Of Some Wonderful Women Who Brought Me Up. I Never Had A Father Or A Man In The House, And That Was A Loss...

I Never Wrote Anything That Was Published Until I Was Forty.

Scientists Dream About Doing Great Things. Engineers Do Them.

I Have Never Thought Of Myself As A Good Writer. Anyone Who Wants Reassurance Of That Should Read One Of My First Drafts. But I'm One Of The World's Great Rewriters.

I Was Brought Up In The Great Tradition Of The Late Nineteenth Century: That A Writer Never Complains, Never Explains And Never Disdains.