There is room in the human heart for all the divinities.

I don't think of literature as an end in itself. It's just a way of communicating something.

The world starts to exist, for Americans, when we are in conflict with a place. And then all of a sudden, Afghanistan pops up on the TV screen and it becomes a place. And it exists for three weeks and then it disappears into thin air.

I seek truth and beauty in the transparency of an autumn leaf, in the perfect form of a seashell on the beach, in the curve of a woman's back, in the texture of an ancient tree trunk, but also in the elusive forms of reality.

I am an American citizen and it is my home now. I like the USA, which is not a place too many people have liked since Bush. The US has a young population, and everything can change within a year.

Writing is like making love. Don't worry about the orgasm, just concentrate on the process.

Most people feel younger than their age, but the culture values youth, success, beauty, productivity. There is no space in this culture for older people.