One of the things that novels have tended not to concentrate on over the centuries is the fact that people read books.

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.

In a constructive policy, there is ‘adjust everywhere’ and in a destructive policy, there is a policy of disadjustment.

The secret of success is constancy of purpose.

He who when called upon to speak a disagreeable truth tells it boldly and has done is both bolder and milder than he who nibbles in a low voice and never ceases nibbling.

I believe that art has been a vehicle for me that's been about enlightenment and expanding my own parameters, to give me courage to exercise the freedom that I have in life.

By the mid-70s, I wanted to get out of the business. I was tired anyway.

Once in everyone's life there is apt to be a period when he is fully awake, instead of half-asleep.

Leather is always sexy, and you have to wear leather when you ride a bike. It's more for protection, but it also gets you some style points, I think.

Without water the desert is nothing but a grave.

And in self-giving we become really happy. Real humility is the expansion of our consciousness and our service.

My boyfriend asked me to tell a story without my hands, and I couldn't talk.