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

I think people have come to expect that in artistic representation; that every work of art should be a work of extravagant hope.

I see that being looked at askance as a form of elitism now, which is really scary.

I'm such a baby if I even get a flu.

I was a straight arrow, a control freak. I didn't do drugs or drink, and this was the '70s. I didn't like the loss of control. Which isn't exactly right, because I didn't know what happened when you did drugs.

Even when the faith goes away, there's that space where you crave something bigger than yourself. For me, that's kind of where art came in, after that.

That underscored this idea that when we're reading a book or writing a book, you're in an act of co-creation. The reader and the writer are both trying to dress up and present their best selves and then there's that moment, when suddenly, as a reader, you're not exactly you anymore, and likewise, as a writer, you're not really you.