There is something unwholesome and destructive about the entire writing process.

Of course there is nothing that cannot be done incorrectly.

A writer loves the dark, loves it, but is always fumbling around in the light.

You must stop worrying about why things happen and wonder what they mean when they do.

The story knows itself better than the writer does at some point, knows what's being said before the writer figures out how to say it.

Nothing we do is inevitable, but everything we do is irreversible.

Why does the writer write? The writer writes to serve--hopeless ly he writes in the hope that he might serve--not himself and not others, but that great cold elemental grace that knows us.

Words at night were feral things.

One writes to find words' meanings.

There is a certain type of conversation one hears only when one is drunk and it is like a dream, full of humor and threat and significance, deep significance.

But who knows what good might come from the least of us? From the bones of old horses is made the most beautiful Prussian Blue.

I felt lonely and content at the same time. I believe that is a rare kind of happiness.

Do you realise that people die of boredom in London suburbs? It's the second biggest cause of death amongs the English in general. Sheer boredom...

Belief in the causal nexus is superstition.

The tribal pull of patriotism could have no better testimony.

...success is when those who know you best respect you most.

Do not envy others. If someone gets a larger piece of cake, be happy for them. They'll get fat and you'll stay thin.

You can make all the changes to the island of the tonal you want, you can take excursions into the nagual, but to push yourself into the reordering process is absolutely foolish.

I tend to take [ to Bridget Jones Diaries] something that nearly happened, or might have happened, and then exaggerate it to make it funny and to make it tie into the themes.

Was it animal pee or human pee? Someone asked. How would I know? What, am I an expert in the study of pee?

I never heard of an old man forgetting where he had buried his money. Old people remember what interests them: the dates fixed for their lawsuits, and the names of their debtors and creditors.