It's not that you aren't likable. On the contrary. You are. It's just that one wonders if you haven't made a career out of being so likable.

It is not sex by itself that interests me, but its particular role in American consciousness, and in my own life.

I always have a sense of trembling, but so does a compass, after all.

Travel gives me the opportunity to walk through the sectors of cities where one can clearly see the passage of time.

I am curious about grownups, not children.

[Nabokov's] language is made visible . . . like a veil or transparent curtain. You cannot help seeing the curtain as you peek into the intimate rooms behind.

I don't fret over lost time - I can always use the situations in a novel.