The hardest piece of nonfiction I ever wrote isn't anywhere close to the easiest piece of fiction I never wrote.

I should figure out why I'm so much more interested in doing something that I think is really hard. But, somehow, the thing that is hard for me feels more noble.

It's always better to have too much to read than not enough.

I love a large cast of characters. That's the way life is: it's flooded with people and we keep them all straight.

I craft everything in the beginning. I know where the characters are going before I start writing the book.

It's easier to love a woman when you can't understand a word she's saying.

shame should be reserved for the things we choose to do, not the circumstances that life puts on us