Every book is a kind of experiment in doing something that feels impossible.

I try not to become too regular an addict of any one subculture.

I never take any notes or draw charts or make elaborate diagrams, but I hold an image of the shape of a book in my head and work from that mental hologram.

I've never related to the work geek at all-it sounds much more horrible than nerd. Like a freak biting a chicken's head off in a sideshow.

I learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction - by skipping the parts that bored me.

Someday I would change my name to Shut Up and save everybody a lot of time.

I work on a laptop specifically so I can work in cafes and pretend I'm part of the human world.

What age is a black boy when he learns he's scary?

It was only as I wrote about fear that I began to find paths of access to feelings that were intolerable to me then.

I want what we all want," said Carl. "To move certain parts of the interior of myself into the exterior world, to see if they can be embraced.

I can't bear the silent ringing in my skull.

The biggest life change any man would ever experience was the ending of it.

When your heart is dancing with love, you are with God, and that is your love.

I'm a crier - let me know if you need some tips. I could cry every day, in a good way.

The appetites of the body were private battles.

We've only been wealthy in this country for 70 years. Who said we ought to have all this? Is it ordained?

Every role that you play comes with its own set of challenges.

Jesus himself has shown us by his own example that prayer and fasting are the first and most effective weapons against the forces of evil.

The most self-destructive thought that any person can have is thinking that he or she is not in total control of his or her life. That’s when, ‘Why me?’ becomes a theme song.

There's always going to be somebody worse off than me

Every hour you spend on your rear end ... saps your energy and ruins your health.