A poet sees things in two ways: First, as a child who never saw it before, and Second, as a dying man who will never see it again.

The rules seem to be these: If you have written a successful novel, everyone invites you to write short stories. If you have written some good short stories, everyone wants you to write a novel. But nobody wants anything until you have already proved yourself by being published somewhere else.

I think young people ought to seek the experience that is going to knock them off center.

All I can do is play the game the way the cards fall.

It takes courage to know when you ought to be afraid.

The job of a storyteller is to tell stories, and I have concentrated on that obligation.

Many people who want to be writers don't really want to be writers. They want to have been writers. They wish they had a book in print.