I was raised by my parents to believe that you had a moral obligation to try and help save the world.

You don't want to spend your time around people who make you hold your breath. You can't fill up when you're holding your breath. And writing is about filling up, filling up when you are empty, letting images and ideas and smells run down like water - just as writing is also about dealing with the emptiness.

If something inside of you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act—truth is always subversive.

Living on Earth has always been a dangerous way to spend your time.

It's good to do uncomfortable things. It's weight training for life.

I would seriously rather be in a long line at the DMV than eat with people I don't know.

I went to church with my grandparents sometimes and I loved it.