He is mad about being small when you were big, but no, that's not it, he is mad about being helpless when you were powerful, but no, not that either, he is mad about being contingent when you were necessary, not quite it... he is insane because when he loved you, you didn't notice.

The death of God left the angels in a strange position.

Anathematization of the world is not an adequate response to the world.

There's not a strong autobiographical strain in my fiction. A few bits of fact here and there.

The aim of literature ... is the creation of a strange object covered with fur which breaks your heart.

My mother studied English and drama at the University of Pennsylvania, where my father studied architecture. She was a great influence in all sorts of ways, a wicked wit.

Painters, especially American painters since the Second World War, have been much more troubled, beset by formal perplexity, than American writers. Theyve been a laboratory for everybody.