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's the only way that I can figure out how to live, is to say, "Well, I don't know what this adds up to, but I can do the best I can."

Humor is what happens when we're told the truth quicker and more directly than we're used to.

It blew my mind, reading Swing Time, that I could take any sentence in the book, and it was one of the most beautiful sentences written in English.

Even the written history [of Abraham Lincoln's times] is poorly understood by most people.

Realism is to fiction what gravity is to walking: a confinement that allows dancing under the right circumstances.

Stay alert. The big moral crossroads in your life may not come labeled as such.