‎I was cursed with the pessimism of both the Russians and the Jews two of the gloomiest tribes in the world. Still if there wasn't greatness in me maybe I had the talent to recognize it in others even in the most irritating others.

I was like a well trained pianist who knows which note to hit, but can't make the music his own.

A certain luxury when you get to writing a novel is to have the space to have your characters just banter.

Truth might be stranger than fiction, but it needs a better editor.

You're a writer. Make it up.

I'll tell you a secret. Something they don't teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.

Once you realise that heroes die, everything becomes that much more terrifying.