We surrounded ourselves with smoke and loud noise. That's the way we chose to live. I'm prepared to defend it.

Look at those numbers running. Money makes time. It used to be the other way around. Clock time accelerated the rise of capitalism. People stopped thinking about eternity. They began to concentrate on hours, measurable hours,man-hours, using labor more efficiently.

There's a curious knot that binds novelists and terrorists...Years ago I used to think it was possible for a novelist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory. They make raids on human consciousness. What writers used to do before we were all incorporated.

Pain is just another form of information.

A person rises on a word and falls on a syllable.

Music is dangerous in so many ways. It's the most dangerous thing in the world.

It occurred to me that eating is the only form of professionalism most people ever attain.