The reason I write is that I'm not in dialogue with my emotions; writing puts me in touch with myself.

It's kind of a reflex for me to ignore my own wishes and think about other people first.

My father - I once asked him what was his greatest achievement. He said his greatest achievement was that he fought in five wars in the infantry, always on the front line, and never hurt anybody.

During the war, there were people wishing me death, wishing my son death, wishing my wife death in very graphic ways. In the past, I would go overseas and I would say, "Israel is like my family: we disagree, but we're all brothers." I can't say that anymore, because life proves me wrong.

When my works are being translated, I always get this question from my translators: Up or down? Which means, should it sound biblical and highbrow, or should we take it all down to sound colloquial? In Hebrew, it's both all the time. People in Israel would write in a high register, they wouldn't write colloquial speech. I do a special take on colloquial speech.

It's funny, but I think my stories - the good ones - they're much smarter than I am.

In my stories I can kiss the girls I want to kiss and punch the girls I want to punch. Nobody pays a price for it.