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There's a disease that young writers are susceptible to, which is, I will do this because I can - hubris, I suppose - without stopping to work out why.

I don't lead a writer's life. And I think that can be a source of suspicion and irritation to some people.

I don't understand why, in my work, writing is always so dangerous. It's very destructive. People who write books are destroyers.

If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.

It's not possible to advise a young writer because every young writer is so different. You might say, 'Read,' but a writer can read too much and be paralyzed. Or, 'Don't read, don't think, just write,' and the result could be a mountain of drivel.

People don't understand how much influence they can actually have on a writer, how much a writer's feelings can be hurt, how much they can deflect his course when they raise their voices like they did over highly personal books like 'Panama' or 'Bullet Park.'

When ideas are young and vulnerable, criticism can be lethal.

I think a lot of writing, or a lot of young writers, especially, hold themselves back unnecessarily because they're so upset about the idea that they might be sentimental or so concerned about being criticized that way or even being that way that they just shy away from any strong expression or emotion.

Every compulsion is put upon writers to become safe, polite, obedient, and sterile.

The trade of authorship is a violent, and indestructible obsession.