Life is fundamentally up for grabs

I try not to become too regular an addict of any one subculture.

I never take any notes or draw charts or make elaborate diagrams, but I hold an image of the shape of a book in my head and work from that mental hologram.

I've never related to the work geek at all-it sounds much more horrible than nerd. Like a freak biting a chicken's head off in a sideshow.

I learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction - by skipping the parts that bored me.

Someday I would change my name to Shut Up and save everybody a lot of time.

I work on a laptop specifically so I can work in cafes and pretend I'm part of the human world.

What age is a black boy when he learns he's scary?

It was only as I wrote about fear that I began to find paths of access to feelings that were intolerable to me then.

I want what we all want," said Carl. "To move certain parts of the interior of myself into the exterior world, to see if they can be embraced.

I can't bear the silent ringing in my skull.

Be compassionate ... and take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be a better place.

I've always loved science fiction. I think the smartest writers are science fiction writers dealing with major things.” – Associated Press interview, 12-7-11

It's chance, I tell you, ' he interrupted, ' as everything is in a man's life.

The facts that make the world real-- these depend on the unreal in order to be recognised by it.

You always feel like your 18-year-old self in some sense. And that's what walking through New York on a June evening feels like - you feel like it's Friday and you're 17 years old.

The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone's backyard.

True strength lies in our knowing, individually, what we are, who we are, and what we want.

You need to learn to live with your mistakes. And you need to be in a position to say No once in a while. It's important in life, and it's important for any career that you want to pursue.

English, as a subject, never really got over its upstart nature. It tries to bulk itself up with hopeless jargon and specious complexity, tries to imitate subjects it can never be.

When your own fans whistle and jeer, then you have a big problem.