Anybody who becomes a movie star becomes successful at projecting a certain image to the public.

I like the fact that I'm living in the world rather than in a university.

Mine is not an autonomous imagination.

The capacity for friendship is God's way of apologizing for our families.

I was fortunate to get a lot of mileage out of my vices . . . The point is not to be debilitated by your pleasures. Maybe I have lucky genes or something but I've never been truly addicted to anything, except pleasure in general.

A creative writing program is only as good as its teachers, and I was fortunate in having two great writers as mentors.

I envy those writers who outline their novels, who know where they're going. But I find writing is a process of discovery.