It's not in good taste to have talking ghosts in a grown-up novel.

You can't state difference and also state equality. We have to state sameness to understand equality.

As far as I'm concerned, if you want to find out about the last day of WWII or the roots of the Indian Mutiny, get thee to a books catalogue.

The past is always tense, the future perfect.

Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.

Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.

Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation’. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle’. All that matters is what you leave on the page.

Time is how you spend your love.

I am the sole author of the dictionary that defines me.

Don't confuse honours with achievement.

Pulchritude--beauty where you would least suspect it, hidden in a word that looked like it should signify a belch or a skin infection.

We have to accept that much of reality is ineffable and so to understand it we can't rely on words alone.

There is nothing so cleansing or reassuring as a vicarious sadness.

The most stable, and therefore, the most healthy self-esteem is based on deserved respect from others rather than on external fame or celebrity and unwarranted adulation.

People habitat has to take priority over bird habitat.

If you don't measure up to your expectations, realize that you should just be life without expectations.

It's weird to me to even say, "I wrote this song." I never feel like I wrote it; I feel like I heard it.

Suckas on my jock when I walk down the block, I really don't care if you're jealous or not.

Kids everywhere need to feel safe, hopeful, connected and appreciated.

We must be ruthless with ideas, but gentle with people.

My wife can't cook at all. She made chocolate mousse. An antler got stuck in my throat.