I think the great thing about theatre, and if you start in theatre, is that it does build a confidence in poetic themes and ideas.

Most of screenplay writing is deciding which voices you want to listen to and take on board.

The process of re-writing and writing and re-writing means that you may have a brilliant phrase, but over time it distills and distorts and changes.

I think age is really changing how I write and the themes that I connect with. But there are also things I'm really intrigued about.

I find it fascinating to see other people's photos on social media but I don't upload pictures myself. I don't even know how to. I'm completely digital-phobic.

I drove in last night, ' he said. 'I couldn't sleep, it was too hot. So I went outside. I was feeling melancholy. Then I danced with a beautiful girl, and I felt better. What's your story?

Comfortable means gradually more and more flattened down, more and more blunt - less and less sharp and biting into you.

It turns out that sharing the past with someone is different from reliving it when you’re alone. It feels less like a wound, more like a poultice.

I used to enjoy the anonymity of being a literary figure and occasionally a public radio figure.

I remember reading Paul Fussell my first year teaching at U of Hawai'i and being like, oh, it has a turn! Why didn't anyone tell me?

I'm not going to go into operational matters, obviously.

Through my curtains I can see a big yellow moon. I’m thinking of all the people in the world who will be looking at that same moon. I wonder how many of them haven’t got any eyebrows?

The beautiful are shyer than the ugly, for they move in a world that does not ask for beauty.

I am very competitive, so when I fail I use what I learned from that mishap to fuel success.

Music is an opportunity to say every single thing that you want to say. People will pore over whatever you say and however you say it and, for me, it represents complete freedom of speech.