Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is perhaps why in our morally bewildered time novelists have often been timid about plot.

I believe only in art and failure.

If the tenth of the population that is gay became visible tomorrow, the panic of the majority of people would inspire repressive legislation of a sort that would shock even the pessimists among us.

I was very frightened when I turned forty. I suddenly thought I ought to wake up and be speaking with the voice of God.

People genuinely happy in their choices seem less often tempted to force them on other people than those who feel martyred and broken by their lives.

Human beings tolerate what they understand they have to tolerate.

Knowledge is a collective enterprise. Without it understanding is impossible. Ignorance is too often a murderous vulnerability.