The millions or billions of micro decisions that you're going to make, that's what will determine who you are as a writer, not you deciding in advance.

Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.

I don't feel like I have the intelligence to really inhabit a consistently high level of prose.

For me, things were either very sullied or very pure, very controlled or very under-controlled.

She said America was a spoiled child ignorant of grief.

Success makes opportunities and so many of those "opportunities" are actually exemptions - from hardship, from unfriendliness, from struggle.

I think even like Saddam Hussein or Hitler would wake up and say, "I think it's going to be a good day. I'm gonna do some really important work." And given their definition of good, they went out and did horrible things.