I knew the basic outline of the novel [The Dissemblers] and would write whatever scene of the book I felt particularly excited about at the time.

I lived in New Mexico until I was seventeen, and honestly I've been homesick ever since I left.

I do think that it is one of the eternal questions about art, though - is all art intrinsically selfish?

Does art play a role in the greater good of society, or does it just promote the satisfaction of the artist? I go back and forth on that question.

The motivation to paint seems more pure, or at least more personal, when the artist is doing it for herself.

I've spent many a day worrying that I will never be able to write again!

I am a tragically bad artist.

I did take one drawing class in school, but for this book I spent a lot of time talking to painters and asking them silly questions.

I read letters and journal entries by [Georgia] O'Keeffe (which were infinitely more useful than any critical analysis of her work).

The book [The Dissemblers] officially came out two weeks after my thirtieth birthday...am I still young?

One thing that was inspiring to me in my research about [Georgia] O'Keeffe was to learn that in addition to her success she had very hard times, and times when she was frustrated and uninspired.

The truth is that personality inevitably bleeds into all forms of our intellectual life. We all extrapolate from our own lives in order to understand the world.

Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness and dies by chance.

The world has been loaned to humanity by the universal powers of creation.

the thing is you can get used to anything you think you cant you want to die but you dont you cant you just are

The utmost thing is the user experience, to have the most useful experience.

Architecture should have little to do with problem solving - rather it should create desirable conditions and opportunities hitherto thought impossible.

The workers are the saviors of society, the redeemers of the race.

You used," he said, and then took a sharp breath, "to call me Augustus.

That great, mighty current of evolution which is advancing the life of everything in creation is simply invincible - no one can resist it.

I love shorts in the colder climates, because you can wear them with chunky sweaters and jackets. It's cute and funky.