I don't think that any 'ism' is higher than literature or art. So I'm a formalist. I greatly honor and respect the form of a work.

Memory blurs, that's the point. If memory didn't blur you wouldn't have the fool's courage to do things again, again, again, that tear you apart.

Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul.

I never change, I simply become more myself.

How lovely this world is, really: one simply has to look.

Our enemy is by tradition our savior, in preventing us from superficiality.

Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read.

Night comes to the desert all at once, as if someone turned off the light.

Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst.

See, people come into your life for a reason. They might not know it themselves, why. You might not know it. But there's a reason. There has to be

Be your own editor/critic. Sympathetic but merciless!

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's really a stupid thing to want to do.

Before we can change our condition, we have to change our thoughts.

Thought for the day: Twitter...140 character limit...must be a great tool for fortune cookie writers...

I know too much and not enough

I can't work without it [music]. And it has to be the right kind, because if it's not then I get into a bad mood. I work with a remote so that I can change CDs instantly if I need to.

The point of being at home is to be with my family as much as possible.

Few things in life are certain except death and being taxed.

If you want to tell grown-up fairy tales, you have to look for the dark side.

The ruins proclaim the building was beautiful.

I welcome challenges. I like challenges. It gives me a reason to keep going.