Writing is an exercise in sculpture, chipping away at the rock until you find the nose.

I don't believe less is more. I believe that more is more. I believe that less is less, fat fat, thin thin and enough is enough.

The peculiar dignity of men seen eating alone in restaurants on national holidays

Life's tallest order is to keep the feelings up, to make two dollars' worth of euphoria go the distance. And life can't do that. So fiction does.

I would never write about anyone who is not at the end of his rope.

Like a lot of what happens in novels, inspiration is a sort of spontaneous combustion--the oily rags of the head and heart.

The furthest out is the only place to be.

It's fine, precise, detailed work, the infinitely small motor management of diamond cutters and safecrackers that we do in our heads.

But it's hard to talk about art. Maybe there should be a law against it, some First Amendment gag order like crying fire in a crowded theater.

The living and dead were thrown together, and the dead looked away first.-Description of Doomsday

Good poetry makes the universe reveal a secret.

You're the light in my darkness

We cannot consent to be judged by someone who has suffered less than ourselves. And since each of us regards himself as an unrecognized Job...

Whatever she says to you, it’s your jobnot to let her make you mad.

Practicing going over scenes and in front of the camera just to see how that feels, and then ultimately just finding a way to expose yourself to people. That’s what I did.

Whatever music you beat on your drum there is somebody who can dance to it.

I don't want to die an old lady.

I couch-surfed for years. But I always wanted to live in Baltimore; I still do. If I had to choose, it would always be Baltimore.

No one is alone during tribulations - there's always someone else thinking, rejoicing or suffering in the same way. This thought gives us strength to face the challenge that lies in front of us.

We do not have too much intellect and too little soul, but too little intellect in matters of the soul.