I don't write for an audience, I don't think whether my book will sell, I don't sell it before I finish writing it.

I know that there are people out there who believe we should get rid of all guns.

You are the same person in every aspect of your life, and you have to be a responsible person in every aspect of your life.

Some people are born to make great art and others are born to appreciate it. … It is a kind of talent in itself, to be an audience, whether you are the spectator in the gallery or you are listening to the voice of the world's greatest soprano. Not everyone can be the artist. There have to be those who witness the art, who love and appreciate what they have been privileged to see.

Sometimes not having any idea where we’re going works out better than we could possibly have imagined.

I was very influenced by The Magic Mountain. It's a book that had a huge impact on me. I loved that as a shape for a novel: put a bunch of people in a beautiful place, give them all tuberculosis, make them all stay in a fur sleeping bag for several years and see what happens.

If you've had good gin on a hot day in Southern California with the people you love, you forget Nebraska. The two things cannot coexist. The stronger, better of the two wins.