I think a lot of these terms, nationalistic things, somebody is an American, or somebody is a Frenchman, or somebody is a Jew, I don't know, it doesn't mean anything to me. You really should start augmenting these words, saying what kind. If you want to say somebody is a Jew, what do you mean by that? Does he have blonde hair? I think a lot of these ancient nationalistic and ethnic terms have kind of lost their meaning, or their meaning is so broad, it's nothing. It's like he's connected to the ancient world. Everybody is.

The basis of national identity is to say, "This is authentic to me or my forebears," and is there even such a thing? How authentic is it to your life? Just because your grandfather did it, what does that have to do with you? If I say I'm working in the style of Rembrandt, so what? You can say it, but are you really? No, because when you try to literally copy a cultural artifact, you change it. It dissolves, and then who's looking at it? People who appreciate that kind of drawing, or people it means nothing to?

The click [of a light switch] is the modern triumphal clarion proceeding us through life, announcing our entry into every lightless room.

I've wasted the last five years of my life dealing in religious articles. People today find spiritual solace in ballroom dancing.

I always lived in old buildings, and I thought about who lived here before. You'd have to be oblivious not to.

I'm very interested in music and where these sounds of Western music come from.

I was born Moishe Ketzelbourd but the Indians call me Maurice Cougar.