Someday you will die, and until you know that, you're useless to me.

Real writers write because they love to write. They don't write for public acclaim.

There are worse things you can do to the people you love than kill them. The regular way is just to watch the world do it. Just read the newspaper.

When you're an addict, you can go without feeling anything except drunk or stoned or hungry. Still, when you compare this to other feelings, to sadness, anger, fear, worry, despair, and depression, well, an addiction no longer looks so bad. It looks like a very viable option.

This would be...a book that would be a trapdoor down into some place dark. A place only you could go, alone, when you opened the cover. Because only books have that power.

The world of American politics is more contentious than it has ever been in my lifetime.

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.