The longer you live, the more likely you are to have something to say.

I don't *ever* write about real people. Art is supposed to be better than that. If you want a slice of life, look out the window.

It feels strange to me to be living in a box, hiding from the steadying influence of the moon; wearing the hide of a cow, which is supposed to be dyed to match God-knows-what, on my feet; making promises over the telephone about things I will do at a precise hour next year.

Why is it that only girls stand on the sides of their feet? As if they're afraid to plant themselves?

What a writer can do, what a fiction writer or a poet or an essay writer can do is re-engage people with their own humanity.

Patriotism threatens free speech with death. It is infuriated by thoughtful hesitation, constructive criticism of our leaders and pleas for peace. It despises people of foreign birth. It has specifically blamed homosexuals, feminists and the American Civil Liberties Union. In other words, the American flag stands for intimidation, censorship, violence, bigotry, sexism, homophobia and shoving the Constitution through a paper shredder. Whom are we calling terrorists here?

It's what you do that makes your soul.