A writer’s job is to cultivate what can go wrong.

Of all the priceless objects left behind, this is what we rescue. These artifacts. Memory cues. Useless souvenirs. Nothing you could auction. The scars left from happiness.

She drank a glass of wine and looked for something new to ruin with her lack of talent.

There was no real sense of life because she had nothing to contrast it with.

Personal identity seems like it's just such an American archetype, from Holly Golightly re-inventing herself in 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' to Jay Gatsby in 'The Great Gatsby.' It seems like the sort of archetypal American issue. If you're given the freedom to be anything, or be anyone, what do you do with it?

The most boring thing in the entire world is nudity. The second most boring thing is honesty.

People have to really suffer before they can risk doing what they love.