I never changed after that. I sought for nothing in the one great source of change which is humanity. And even in my love and absorption with the beauty of the world, I sought to learn nothing that could be given back to humanity. I drank of the beauty of the world as a vampire drinks. I was satisfied. I was filled to the brim. But I was dead. And I was changeless.

I'm definitely more influenced by European writers than I am by American writers, there's no doubt about that.

I do want to go another way - to write something completely different.

That was my nature - going from temptation after temptation, not to sin, but to be redeemed.

The world changes, we do not, therein lies the irony that kills us.

Everything we do in life, we do with certain expectations.

The truth is, laughter always sounds more perfect than weeping. Laughter flows in a violent riff and is effortlessly melodic. Weeping is often fought, choked, half strangled, or surrendered to with humiliation.