Nobody knows much about women, not even Freud, not even women themselves. But it's like electricity: you don't need to know how it works to get a shock on the fingers.

Old age is the lubricant of belief. When death knocks at the door, skepticism flies out the window. A serious cardiovascular fright and a person will even believe in Little Red Riding Hood.

I prefer you like this, when you're in a foul mood, because you tell the truth.

We seem to live in a world where forgetting and oblivion are an industry in themselves and very, very few people are remotely interested or aware of their own recent history, much less their neighbors'. I tend to think we are what we remember, what we know. The less we remember, the less we know about ourselves, the less we are. (Interview with Three Monkeys Online, October 2008)

I could tell you it's the heart, but what is really killing him is loneliness. Memories are worse than bullets.

I always felt that I was a writer, that was what I had to do.

I hoped my absence made them happy or at least made them forget that they weren't happy and never will be.