The privilege of being a writer is that you have this opportunity to slow down and to consider things.

What I've come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures, but in the simple accumulation of gentle, soft, almost invisible acts of compassion.

You know, you can steel your heart against any kind of trouble, any kind of horror. But the simple act of kindness from a complete stranger will unstitch you.

In this time of the Internet and nonfiction, to be on an actual bookshelf in an actual bookstore is exciting in itself.

What we know about who we are comes from stories. It's the agents of our imagination who really shape who we are.

People think that writing is writing, but actually writing is editing. Otherwise, you're just taking notes

My friend Ronald Gottesman says...that the cause of all our trouble is the belief in an essential, pure identity: religious, ethnic, historical, ideological.

You can count on Scandinavian literature for a certain kind of darkness, a modern mythic style.

Men do communicate, often very directly, but women sometimes cannot accept how simple what we have to say is. We seldom play games--we aren't that sophisticated.

Before you speak, my friend, remember, a spiritual man contain his anger. Angry words are like slap in de face.

Time was the only variable in every equation of power and oppression--how long before the pot boiled over.

Fashion is about going ahead, not about memory.

My personal philosophy is that you do art to experience emotion that you don't have the luxury of experiencing in real life.

The Bible is not my book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma.

I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on.

I think that some restriction on speech is appropriate.

Heard someone say children are god's gift to the world. What world are you referring to? And what's your definition of gift?

To me, redneck is a sense of self and a way of life.

It is one of the worst effects of prosperity to make a man a vortex instead of a fountain; so that, instead of throwing out, he learns only to draw in.

I don't really have an allowance. When I want to get something I just have to ask my mom.

In spring a young mans fancy turns to a fancy young man.