The genius of rock music is that it matched the cultural hysteria around it.

When my head is in the typewriter the last thing on my mind is some imaginary reader. I don't have an audience; I have a set of standards.

Fame requires every kind of excess. I mean true fame, a devouring neon, not the sombre renown of waning statesmen or chinless kings.

It's true that some of us become better writers by living long enough. But this is also how we become worse writers. The trick is to die in between.

Facts are lonely things.

He speaks in your voice, American, and there's a shine in his eye that's halfway hopeful.

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