You gave yourself away, word by word, every time you opened your trap to speak.

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.

If it were not for hopes, the heart would break.

But I see how he watches the stars, And he talks to people just because, And gee, it would be nice to have a friend."From "Fated" in BREATHE IN

Well, when I was very young, maybe 12 years, I began to make investments.

Good dialogue is not real speech-it's the illusion of real speech.

Instead of boiling up individuals into the species, I would draw a chalk circle round every individuality, and preach to it to keep within that, and preserve and cultivate its identity.

A lot of improvisation ends up being about just thinking outside of the box in the scene. It's not improvisation as much as it is quickness or making it real.

Justice and truth are the common ties of society

We are not the personalities that our egos are so valiantly defending. Our personalities are simply the result of our current programming.

The great scandal of American life is that we pay for German levels of government without enjoying the related benefits.

Man is the hardest animal to kill. If he gets away he will come back to kill you.