Don't ask to live in tranquil times. Literature doesn't grow there.

Don't ask to live in tranquil times. Literature doesn't grow there.

Start with The Iliad and The Odyssey , ... Go to the beginning of Western literature and come forward. ... You've cut off a core of incredible richness that will carry you all your life.

I believe all literature started as gossip.

While cats can be infuriating, little old women in fur coats, they make me laugh. Of course, dogs, horses and my highly social chickens are dear to me, too.

I believe in a lively disrespect for most forms of authority.