I'm Not A Very Good Writer, But

If Your Book Doesn't Keep You Up Nights When You Are Writing It, It Won't Keep Anyone Up Nights Reading It.

I Had Learned Volleyball In The Navy, Where All The Captains And Admirals Wanted To Be Spikers, And I Found Then That A Man Who Can Subdue His Own Desires And Master The Art Of Serving Others Can Make Himself Invaluable. In Choosing Sides The Team Captain Always Chose The Good Spikers On The First And Second Choice, But Then The Spikers Would Grab His Arm And Whisper, 'take Michener.' I Was Never Chosen Lower Than Third, Because I Was Needed. I Wasn't Good, But I Was Faithful.

Things Are Going To Go Wrong, And I Think We Are False To Life If We Don’t Portray It. But There Is Also The Hope That Some Lucky Clown Is Going To Come Along And Stumble Into The Gold Mine. And I Think You Are Also Entitled To Hold Out That Hope.

I Feel Myself The Inheritor Of A Great Background Of People. Just Who, Precisely, They Were, I Have Never Known. I Might Be Part Negro, Might Be Part Jew, Part Muslim, Part Irish. So I Can't Afford To Be Supercilious About Any Group Of People Because I May Be That People.

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