Being content is perhaps no less easy than playing the violin well: and requires no less practice.

I was uncomfortable writing fiction. My love was the personal essay rather than the novel.

There's a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.

We keep a special place in our hearts for people who refuse to be impressed by us.

Anxiety is the handmaiden of contemporary ambition.

Most victories are, in the best way, acts of revenge.

In Britain, because I live here, I can also run into problems of envy and competition. But all this is just in a day's work for a writer. You can't put stuff out there without someone calling you a complete fool. Oh, well.