I'm an avowed modernist. I'm for the new thing. I came to the conclusion many years ago that rock music is essentially a conservative form.

The life of the mind is always more interesting than the real. The idea is often more interesting than the actual.

I've never had a problem with the old truism about dancing to architecture. I think you can dance to architecture. There's some pretty funky architecture to dance to.

I didn't start writing in order to express myself. If anything the opposite was true. I was just as interested in negating the I and the ego.

The way I have progressed as a writer over the years is to try and stay true to the principles I absorbed.

I think all writing about art is in some way dancing to architecture. It's all about similitude, being analogous, metaphorical, adjectival, etc.

It's about time! It's supposed to be a ritual, not a marathon.

Knowledge kills action action requires the veils of illusion.

Real evil wasn't about bending the law to suit justice: evil was acting out of small, intensely personal expedience and losing sight of the bigger picture so often that you never got it back again.

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection.

I never, ever in my life tried to be outrageous. I've only ever tried to say what was truly on my mind and not pull punches about it.

I don't know what people think in making record is like. But basically, I got a bunch of spaghetti and spaghetti sauce, and the whole band was staying at my house and we had a ball.

Meanwhile, the Bush dynasty comes to an official end.

While thoughts exist, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living.

Morbid attention is when we focus only on the shortcomings that come with aging, which are inevitable, and think that everything that is wrong is a result of aging.

I don't necessarily wait for that massive leading role. I want to keep the juices flowing.