There are two categories of writers, it could be said: The author who is just a voice, and the one who is also creating a picture. I belong to the latter, because I have an acute visual sense.

I like the construction of sentences and the juxtaposition of words-not just how they sound or what they mean, but even what they look like.

I think more than writers, the major influences on me have been European movies, jazz, and Abstract Expressionism.

We seem to believe it is possible to ward off death by following rules of good grooming.

As technology advances in complexity and scope, fear becomes more primitive.

No sense of the irony of human experience, that we are the highest form of life on earth, and yet ineffably sad because we know what no other animal knows, that we must die.

I've come to think of Europe as a hardcover book, America as the paperback version.

I don’t want your candor. I want your soul in a silver thimble.

What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.

California deserves whatever it gets. Californians invented the concept of life-style. This alone warrants their doom.

A writer takes earnest measures to secure his solitude and then finds endless ways to squander it.

Being a good mother, it seemed to me, meant you ran the risk of losing your child.

When it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich.

Reading books would be boring if you lack imagination...

I find short, fast romances romantic. There's a beauty to dark imagery.

How did we get to this place where we had to be tough all the time and never said how much we loved each other?

Surrender to what you know and you'll know more.

If I am to be known for anything, I would like it to be for encouraging Canadians, for knowing a little bit about their daily, extraordinary courage. And for wanting that courage to be recognized.

I love doing TV as much as I love doing movies.

Fear first made gods in the world.

The most important philosophy I think is that even if it isn't true you must absolutely assume there is no afterlife.