Mistakes are a drag, because you get in the area of regret and self-pity.

People see me and they squeal like tropical birds or seals stranded on the beach.

My fear is that I will be crushed in an elevator and my mother will get hold of my journals from my adolescence.

I always wrote. I wrote from when I was 12. That was therapeutic for me in those days. I wrote things to get them out of feeling them, and onto paper. So writing in a way saved me, kept me company. I did the traditional thing with falling in love with words, reading books and underlining lines I liked and words I didn't know.

I wanted to be, you know, just no different than anybody else.

I love the idea of God, but it's not stylistically in keeping with the way I function. I would describe myself as an enthusiastic agnostic who would be happy to be shown that there is a God. I can see that people who believe in God are happier. ... But I doubt.

I like birds and dogs. I'm allergic to cats.