Friends don't need the intervention of a third party. Friendship's a voluntary thing.

Sometimes I get real lonely sleeping with you.

Properly speaking, should any individual ever have exact, clear knowledge of his own core consciousness?" "I wouldn't know," I said. "Nor would we," said the scientists.

Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg.

I said nothing for a time, just ran my fingertips along the edge of the human-shaped emptiness that had been left inside me.

A short story I have written long ago would barge into my house in the middle of the night, shake me awake and shout, 'Hey,this is no time for sleeping! You can't forget me, there's still more to write!' Impelled by that voice, I would find myself writing a novel. In this sense, too, my short stories and novels connect inside me in a very natural, organic way.

Myths are the prototype for all stories. When we write a story on our own it can't help but link up with all sorts of myths. Myths are like a reservoir containing every story there is.