My family pleaded with me to forget literature and do something sensible, such as find some sort of useful work.

I loved all the world’s mythologies.

Using the device of an imaginary world allows me in some strange way to go to the central issues – it’s one of many ways to express feelings about real people, about real human relationships.

I decided that adventure was the best way to learn about writing.

Eventually, I was sent to Wales and Germany, and after the war, to Paris.

After seven years of writing – and working many jobs to support my family – I finally got published.

All that writers can do is keep trying to say what is deepest in their hearts.

Most of my books have been written in the form of fantasy.

My parents were horrified when I told them I wanted to be an author.

It was 1943. The U.S. had already entered World War II, so I decided to join the army.

When I was discharged, I attended the University of Paris and met a beautiful Parisian girl, Janine. We soon married and eventually returned to the States.

If writers learn more from their books than do readers, perhaps I may have begun to learn.

My concern is how we learn to be genuine human beings.

King Arthur was one of my heroes – I played with a trash can lid for a knightly shield and my uncle’s cane for the sword Excalibur.

My family pleaded with me to forget literature and do something sensible, such as find some sort of useful work.

Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain, and so many others were my dearest friends and greatest teachers.

After I saved some money, I quit work and went to a local college.

We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.

There’s this huge number of desperate people.