Banks introduced the installment plan. The disappearance of cash and the coming of the credit card changed the shape of life in the United States.

There's a place beyond words where experience first occurs to which I always want to return. I suspect that whenever I articulate my thoughts or translate my impulses into words, I am betraying the real thoughts and impulses which remain hidden.

I do not gather things, I prefer to rent them rather than to possess them.

I can create countries just as I can create the actions of my characters. That is why a lot of travel seems to me a waste of time.

It is possible to stand around with a cocktail in one's hand and talk with everyone, which means with no one.

- Growth has its season. There are spring and summer, but there are also fall and winter. And then spring and summer again. As long as the roots are not severed, all is well and all be well.

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