I decided to make my living as a magazine writer. And I found that it was really easy and fun.

I really do think that our subconscious gets corrupted with fear, and fear is how news media - all media - makes us [watch] long enough to get to the Tide commercial. That's all it's about. Generating fear so that we can buy the proper laundry detergent.

I don't want to stand with somebody's praise.

You throw a person in the river and then make a spectacle of jumping in to save them.

Reading fiction is important. It is a vital means of imagining a life other than our own, which in turn makes us more empathetic beings. Following complex story lines stretches our brains beyond the 140 characters of sound-bite thinking, and staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps.

I read books I hate all the time, and I don't mention them or talk about them.

You can’t pick up and leave everything behind because there is too much sadness in the world and not enough places to go.