Words are not necessary to one's experience of the true life.

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.

But life is not a legend or a story. Reality is far more precious than a story.

While preaching against every kind of government, and demanding complete freedom, we must support all struggles for partial freedom, because we are convinced that one learns through struggle.

The girl had a certain nobleness of imagination, which rendered her a good many services and played her a great many tricks.

And over time, I think, as Iraqi security capacity builds, you'll see American and coalition presence there decline.

Don’t try to be anything but yourself, and find success as yourself. Otherwise, you won’t be happy.

Reasonable people can reasonably disagree on policy.

I am only serious about 20% of the time; one of the great joys of my life is the fact that I alone know when that is.

It is not the accumulation of extraneous knowledge, but the realization of the self within, that constitutes true progress.

If you're fortunate enough, you get to a position where you can be a little pickier about your roles.

My music is my way to rearrange the world according to my own hopes.