Fiction and essays can create empathy for the theoretical stranger.

The loudest sound on earth, she thought, is a man with nothing to do.

Time cures you first, and then it kills you.

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.

I believe with all my heart in delivering on my contract with my readers. They've got plenty of other things to do, so I had better give them a reason to turn every one of these 550 pages. This is my promise: I solemnly swear I'll make you laugh out loud at least once, cry a little in private, and burn whatever you left on the stove.

Because I write fiction that is based in the real world, it's going to lead people into some of the modern dilemmas and concerns and even catastrophes that they will think about in a new way.

As a biologist, I can't think of myself as anything but an animal among animals and plant.