Mapplethorpe presented the body as a sexual object, separating it from the humanity of the person. He added nothing to photography as a medium. I hold his work in low regard.

The planned sit-down reception is an artificial forum where one is presented with a limited number of persons with whom he can hold a conversation.

All my life I've been hiding.

I collect human relationships very much the way others collect fine art.

And really the purpose of art - for me, fiction - is to alert, to indicate to stop, to say: Make certain that when you rush through you will not miss the moment which you might have had, or might still have.

As I go to sleep I remember what my father said-that one can never be sure if one will awake. The way my health is now, this is becoming more and more real.

Here was one place where I could find out who I was and what I was going to become. And that was the public library.