The marriage seemed to flourish on Father’s extended absences. ” Ragtime

Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

All secrets become deep. All secrets become dark. That's in the nature of secrets.

Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader - not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.

When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.

Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.

Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time-rich and cash-poor.

I am often asked the question How can the masses permit themselves to be exploited by the few. The answer is By being persuaded to identify with them.

The three most important documents a free society gives are a birth certificate, a passport, and a library card.

Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.

Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future.

It occurs to me that I really can't remember your face in any precise detail. Only the way you walked away through the tables in the café, your figure, your dress, that I still see.

When you walk this earth on borrowed time, each day on the calendar is a beloved friend you know for only a short time.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.

There's one thing I don't ever think about: losing ... Instead, I think about how I'm going to win, and how I can do it the quickest way.

I never chased after any particular school, never really had mentors; I really just did the work that was true to me.

I don't like drugs. I think cocaine is a very bad, habit-forming bore. It's about the most boring drug ever invented.

Entertain me, heroes of Olympus. Give me a reason to do more." Bacchus to Percy and Jason

This is still the strangest thing in all man's travelling, that he should carry about with him incongruous memories.

Our age of mechanization leads along a road ending with man himself as a machine. Only the spirit of singing can save us from this fate.