Most novels I come across have all the excitement of a long trip on a bus with a sensitive glee club. Yammer and chat.

I found out about reviews early on. They're mostly written by sad men on bad afternoons. That's probably why I'm less angry than some writers, who are so narcissistic they consider every line of every review, even a thoughtful one, as major treason.

You need to see a bit of hell now and then. That, and great joy.

Professional Southerners sicken me.

The wild stuff is all so overrated. Drinking, you don't feel good all the time. There's a lot of down, a lot of misery.

I wouldn't buy somebody's album on a dare if they called him a musician's musician. I don't write to be a writer's writer. I don't want to be like the little-magazine writer.

I grew up when people seemed actually to be hurting themselves for their art. Of course, some of it was phony.