My books do have a sort of romantic community at the end - people coming together. But on a more basic level, I always see them as being about power, in the same way that Harry Potter books are pitched to a population of young people who really have no power.

Minimalism seems closest to the sophisticated storytelling of movies. Movies have really educated contemporary audiences to be the most intelligent, sophisticated audiences in history. We don't any longer need to have the relationship between one scene and the next explained. We will figure it out ourselves.

Do you know why most survivors of the Holocaust are vegan? It's because they know what it's like to be treated like an animal.

Everyone's in their own personal coma.

People take conventional ways that other people have always decorated their cars, and use them as ways of giving other people permission to approach them.

The first time we meet another person an insidious little voice in our heads says, "I might wear eyeglasses or be chunky around the hips or a girl, but at least I'm not Gay or Black or a Jew." Meaning: I may be me- but at least I have the good sense not to be YOU.

Everybody's trying to make every minute of the present last forever. Preserve every second.