My former wife is a very eccentric woman, which is why I still love her.

The most interesting things that happen in my books are usually the things that arise spontaneously, the things that surprise me.

Most of the people I write about have been ambitious outlanders who have been attracted to New York from other parts of the world.

Taste ... is a matter of taste (Tad Allagash)

If it's red, French, costs too much, and tastes like the water that's left in the vase after the flowers have died and rotted, it's probably Burgundy.

You have friends who actually care about you and speak the language of the inner self. You have avoided them of late. Your soul is as disheveled as your apartment, and until you can clean it up a little you don't want to invite anyone inside.

I remain a fan of my friend Bret Easton Ellis's 'American Psycho.' I think as a book about New York in the '80s it was pretty excellent.