I don't write poetry for the New Yorker. My poems appear in the Nation, mostly.

When one person mentors, two lives are changed.

[Calvin Trilllin] is not writing about things that I can criticize. I can call these other people out for what I think they are not doing. There's a big difference.

When I graduated [from Yale], I went back to Larry [Kramer]. But when I go to Yale reunions, there are still people who call me David.

Calvin [Trillin] was much more of a mover and a shaker. That's all I'm saying. I was a "weenie." That was another term back then.

That's why I tried to kill myself when I was a student [in Yale]. I thought I was the only one there.

I'm sorry to keep focusing on the New Yorker, but everybody who was growing up when Calvin [Trillin] and I were growing up wanted to be published in the New Yorker.

I talked to [Larry] Kramer a little bit about it while I was writing 'Remembering Denny' . Denny was one of those people who took a long time to come out.

"Shoe" just meant you were a big jock on campus no matter what field you were in.

[Calvin Trillin] was very "shoe," which means he was a big jock, a big deal.

One thing I learned in sobriety is to stop being judgmental, to always be discerning. When I drive, that will be my bumper sticker.

Somewhere there is a map of how it can be done.

Always work on the things you're not good at, because once you develop skills in those areas, you have no more fears.

The fey wonders of the world only exist while there are those with the sight to see them.

The story of the Amazon is a story that has been told by Europeans, you know, by Germans, by Canadians, by Americans.

I'm really interested in the intersection between reputation, identity, and knowledge.

Once I got past my anger toward my mother, I began to excel in volleyball and modeling.

Invention is by its very nature disruptive. If you want to be understood at all times, then don't do anything new.

Compassion has enemies, and those enemies are things like pity, moral outrage, fear.

As an athlete, you choose your sport and are drawn into it but your passion should never be driven by fame and fortune but a desire to create something special that people will always remember.

Nothing's really changed since the Harry Potter films came along.