I think when you see [Donald] Trump in person, my reaction is you kind of enjoy it. It's kind of an enjoyable night out.

I know that my only chance at any kind of depth or profundity is to linger within the story, trying to make it distinguish itself.

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

It's a big world, and I really like it.

That seems to be the definition of 'novel' for me: a story that hasn't yet discovered a way to be brief.

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.

One of the revelations in that book [Lincoln in the Bardo] for me was this idea about citizenship. Even that word - citizenship - for someone my age, it makes me cringe. But, to me, the political space we're in now argues for a reboot of fairly simple ideas and the examination of the way that Americans have not been living into them.