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.

All traditions are also full of meanness for the sake of meanness.

I actually believe that a lot of what people call originality has to do with persistence in the craft.

I don't mind being criticized intelligently; although I don't love it.

The internet kind of feels like happiness sometimes, however. It feels like stimulation.

It seemed to me, in some way, especially when you're looking back at distant historical events, the "Truth" with a capital "T" is kind of the juxtaposition of all the many, many, many truths that seem true to people at the time.

I was thinking about the legacy of ghosts in fiction, and specifically the moral power of those Dickensian ghosts. Because a ghost can be a very powerful but also manipulative element.