Cars are the most central thing in America, in a lot of ways. They've probably influenced the way we live more than anything else, and yet every really big problem - whether it's the environment or who dictates the international economy because of oil - is all tied to cars. Ultimately, cars are bad for civilization. I don't know if they'll end us.

I care about strangers when they're abstractions, but I feel almost nothing when they're literally in front of me.

All my friends are rock critics, so we talk about rock criticism a lot. Because of that, in order to be part of the conversation, you have to have an awareness of what the discussion is.

Science fiction tends to be philosophy for stupid people.

And I spilled gravy on my Carolina sweater, because I am alive.

The essays are very solipsistic and self-absorbed, I'm totally conscious of that. To me, book writing is fun, and I basically just write about things that are entertaining to myself.

We are always dying, all the time. That's what living is; living is dying, little by little. It is a sequenced collection of individualized deaths.