"He said it was artificial respiration, but now I find I am to have his child." — Anthony Burgess

The unconscious mind has a habit of asserting itself in the afternoon.

Books in a large university library system: 2,000,000. Books in an average large city library: 10,000. Average number of books in a chain bookstore: 30,000. Books in an average neighborhood branch library: 20,000.

To write is to become disinterested. There is a certain renunciation in art.

I enjoy journalism; anybody does. You see the results immediately; you've got an immediate audience instead of having to wait for your audience as you do if you're writing a book, and you get a bit of money coming in, and you can see more clearly how you're paying the bills. But it's not a good position for the serious novelist to be in.