No innocent man buys a gun, and no happy man writes his memoirs.

The greatness of America is that it produces exuberant geniuses like Louis Armstrong and Fred Astaire and Leonard Bernstein. We are meant to be a jazzy people who talk big and jump on the table and dance; we aren't supposed to be dopey and glum and brood over old injuries.

I want to resume the life of a shy person.

Jesus said the meek would inherit the earth, but so far all we've gotten is Minnesota and North Dakota.

Roy Blount's stuff makes me laugh so hard, sometimes I have to go sit in a room and shut the door

I like to sing and it's just really fun to sing, and I don't get too much. And at my house I'm not allowed to because, you know, your children can't stand it when you sing at home.

I love New York, and I'm drawn to a certain intensity of life, but I've just never felt like I want to escape from the Midwest. A writer lives a great deal in his own head, and so one intuitively finds places where your head is more clear. New York for me is one of those places.