They try to thrive. To multiply. To make murder a method of management.

The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.

Blue is therefore most suitable as the color of interior life.

Sports, politics, and religion are the three passions of the badly educated.

it is discouraging to leave the past behind only to see it coming toward you like the thunderstorm which drenched you yesterday.

It’s not the word made flesh we want in writing, in poetry and fiction, but the flesh made word

For me, the short story is not a character sketch, a mouse trap, an epiphany, a slice of suburban life. It is the flowering of a symbol center. It is a poem grafted onto sturdier stock.

I am unlikely to trust a sentence that comes easily.

I write because I hate. A lot. Hard.

The expression to write something down suggests a descent of thought to the fingers whose movements immediately falsify it.

The speeding reader guts a book the way the skillful clean fish. The gills are gone, the tail, the scales, the fins; then the fillet slides away swifly as though fed to a seal.

You do not have to feel truer than others in order to be original.You just need to be different and keep aspiring to be a better you.

Patience is a good palfrey, and will carry us a long day.

There is safety in small beginnings and there is unlimited capital in the experience gained by growing.

My understanding of God has come from my own personal experiences. Because I was in trouble so many times in New York that if you were me, you would believe in God too.

I am malicious because I am miserable

When you're in an economic downturn, what you want is to create jobs and economic growth. And the recipe isn't Republican or Democrat. It's low taxes, low spending, less regulation, free trade.

Sometimes it seemed to me a cruelty that so much was unresolved between us; at other times, a blessing that a hope of reunion lingered.

Every now and then you meet a man whose ignorance is encyclopedic.

Oh, Daja," moaned Jory, "you sound just like my parents." She ran from the schoolroom. "Well, there's no reason to insult me, "muttered Daja, half offended.

Triple 6 Mafia and Mystikal in Atlanta was one of my first shows. I remember how sweaty and smashed up everybody was, and it was so punk rock.