Most bad books get that way because their authors are engaged in trying to justify themselves. If a vain author is an alcoholic, t...hen the most sympathetically portrayed character in his book will be an alcoholic. This sort of thing is very boring for outsiders.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Powerful men in particular suffer from the delusion that human beings have no memories. I would go so far as to say that the disti...nguishing trait of powerful men is the psychotic certainty that people forget acts of infamy as easily as their parents' birthdays.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The only virtue a character needs to possess between hardcovers, even if he bears a real person's name, is vitality: if he comes t...o life in our imaginations, he passes the test.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The war against Vietnam is only the ghastliest manifestation of what I'd call imperial provincialism, which afflicts America's who...le culture--aware only of its own history, insensible to everything which isn't part of the local atmosphere.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
As both capitalist and communist states--not to mention the technological world--have evolved under the illusion that men purposef...ully built them, ideological optimism seeps into every niche of our lives. It is made worse by mass culture which feeds our most destructive illusions, fostering the belief that if we're only justified (and who isn't?)Mif we only calculate things correctly, if we only do the right thing (and who doesn't?)Mthen the future must yield the desired results. There must always be a way. And so hubris turns to false certainties, everyone expects to be a winner, and each morning is a mind-blowing surprise.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »