With any novel that you begin, you can't foresee how difficult or easy it's going to be, and you can't really prepare yourself. You just have a take it one step at a time and know that it's all right to keep going - you can always fix it.

Another thing he told his customers was that one of the great accounting unknowns of the modern age was how to value knowledge. It was an exciting field.

Art doesn't exist if you just do what you're told. It only exists as an exercise of individual taste and freedom.

My characters never die screaming in rage. They attempt to pull themselves back together and go on. And that's basically a conservative view of life.

I don't know - is everything the U.S. does a shocking embarrassment?

Giving his lecture for the third time freed Dr. Lionel Gift from paying much attention to it. He had a naturally expressive style of delivery, hones over the years in elementary-econ lecture halls. He knew, without even thinking, to address the middle rows of the hall, but to occasionally "shoot" the listeners in the back corners. He knew how to make eye contact and solicit the attention of those who were thinking of other things.

English majors understand human nature better than economists do.