...loneliness is not a function of solitude.

It did what all ads are supposed to do: create an anxiety relievable by purchase.

Footnote: 79) The anchor is gigantic and must weigh a hundred tons, and -- delightfully -- it really is anchor-shaped, i.e. the same shape as anchors in tattoos.

I tend to think of fiction as being mainly about characters and human beings and inner experience, whereas essays can be much more expository and didactic and more about subjects or ideas.

It's in the democratic citizen's nature to be like a leaf that doesn't believe in the tree it's part of.

Perhaps this is what it means to go mad: to be emptied and to be aware of the emptiness.

I wasn't all that attracted to writing originally. I read a great deal. My parents read a great deal. I do know that as my interest in tennis waned, my interest in academics increased. I mean, I started doing my homework in high school and discovering that it was somewhat fun. And then in college I barely even played on the team because just classes were much more interesting.