I don't paint anymore. I haven't since I abandoned it at 19, in order to begin writing seriously.

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.

Self-esteem comes from not letting unrelated external occurrences be tied to your own self-worth.

Years and years of happiness only make us realize how lucky we are to have friends that have shared and made that happiness a reality.

We can only do what is possible for us to do. But still it is good to know what the impossible is.

Words are only painted fire a look is the fire itself.

I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.

I have a lot of hobbies and I can be very remiss in reminding myself to go down to the basement to work.

The miracle is that a work of art should live in the person who reads it.

When a child dies, it breaks the pattern, the most fundamental pattern in life.

I'll never go against my morals.