In this country there is a universal third person, the man we all want to be. Advertising has discovered this man. It uses him to express the possibilities open to the consumer. To consume in America is not to buy; it is to dream. Advertising is the suggestion that the dream of entering the third person singular might possibly be fulfilled.

I have only a bare working knowledge of the human brain but it's enough to make me proud to be an American.

There are dead stars that still shine because their light is trapped in time. Where do I stand in this light, which does not strictly exist? (155)

Writers, some of us, may tend to see things before other people do, things that are right there but aren't noticed in the way that a writer might notice.

We don't really know how technology will affect narrative. That's the question. See, people used to say that the novel is going to die, but they would never say that movies will die with it, when in fact all forms depend on the narrative. I think if one of them fails, the others are going to fail as well. Maybe this will happen to both forms, and maybe movies will take a totally different direction with fiction.

I am very unmusical. I can't carry a tune. I would never be able to play an instrument.

I would never write in response to what I believe the public wanted or needed.