Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.

Baltimore is warm but pleasant... I belong here, where everything is civilized and gay and rotted and polite.

It's not a slam at you when people are rude, it's a slam at the people they've met before.

Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel. Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.

When I see a beautiful shell like that I can't help feeling a regret about what's inside it.

Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!" He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand.

Then I grew up, and the beauty of succulent illusions fell away from me.