Making a history was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to construct something more powerful than that.

I have always said that archival images are images without imagination. They petrify thought and kill any power of evocation.

If you walk in joy, happiness is close behind.

Death is buried there into death Hunger strikes on its own last breathNo spine to shiver, no heart talks At life’s craving poverty mocksFrom the poem 'Exhumation

It's a noir world. Unfair things happen.

Silence, beautiful voice.

When I'm outside the cities I do feel optimistic. There is such grandeur in India and so much beauty.

I became chairman of the inmates committee. Got into a lot of trouble. Was accused of fomenting a riot. Was accused of plotting to kill the warden.

The more flesh, the more worms; the more possessions, the more worry.

Life is too short for reading inferior books.

I still have trouble identifying grammatical structures by name, though I know them as matters of usage.

There are things God does for me daily, and it throws me into brain lock, because I know in my heart I don't deserve that kind of grace. I don't deserve that break.