It was important for him to believe that he'd spent his life among people who kept missing the point.

One connection I see between novelists and terrorists is that we both attempt to alter consciousness.

I don't want to do the type of writing where I recite biography, parentage and education. I want to rise up from the words on the page and do something, hurt someone.

She became confused when she stepped onto an escalator that wasn't working.

Insanity's so personal. It's hard to know who shares our secrets.

There's a moral force in a sentence when it comes out right. It speaks the writer's will to live.

As belief shrinks from the world, it is more necessary than ever that someone believe. Wild-eyed men in caves. Nuns in black. Monks who do not speak. We are left to believe. Fools, children. Those who have abandoned belief must still believe in us. They are sure they are right not to believe but they know belief must not fade completely. Hell is when no one believes.