Quoted in "Feeling Rejected? Join Updike, Mailer, Oates..." by Barbara Bauer and Robert F. Moss, New York Times (21 July 1985), section 7, page 1, column 1
General sources

“A man should be able to hear, and to bear, the worst that could be said of him.”

Saul Bellow

“I am a phoenix who runs after arsonists.”

Saul Bellow

“With one long breath, caught and held in his chest, he fought his sadness over his solitary life. Don't cry, you idiot! Live or die, but don't poison everything…”

Saul Bellow book Herzog

Source: Herzog

“Readiness to answer all questions is the infallible sign of stupidity.”

Saul Bellow book Herzog

Source: Herzog

“A writer is a reader moved to emulation.”

Saul Bellow

“In an age of madness, to expect to be untouched by madness is a form of madness. But the pursuit of sanity can be a form of madness, too”

Saul Bellow

“When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.”

Saul Bellow

Demander un conseil, c'est presque toujours chercher un complice. — Adélaïde-Édouard le Lièvre, marquis de La Grange et de Fourilles (1796–1876), Pensées (1872) http://books.google.com/books?id=_YcDAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA479&dq=%22Demander+un+conseil,+c'est+presque+toujours+chercher+un+complice%22&hl=en <br class="br">Misattributed

“We are funny creatures. We don't see the stars as they are, so why do we love them? They are not small gold objects, but endless fire.”

Saul Bellow book Henderson the Rain King

Source: Henderson the Rain King

“Boredom is the conviction that you can't change… the shriek of unused capacities.”

Saul Bellow book The Adventures of Augie March

Source: The Adventures of Augie March

“A man is only as good as what he loves.”

Saul Bellow

“Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.”

Saul Bellow book Mr. Sammler's Planet

Mr. Sammler's Planet (1970) [Penguin Classics, 2004, ISBN 0-142-43783-2], p. 156
General sources

“One thought-murder a day keeps the psychiatrist away.”