I do have a romantic interest in outlasting everybody else. There's a sort of sad machismo to singer-songwriters, I think.

[Dennis] Etchison would write stories that were just punch lines at the end. You wouldn't realize something horrific was happening until the last paragraph.

I don't celebrate milestones and I don't do anniversary editions. It's not my style to reflect on accomplishments.

People say friends don't destroy one another. What do they know about friends?

I always worry that I'm a dilettante: I know something about lots of things but don't have exhaustive knowledge of much.

It's a cliché to state that one should think like a child, but it's clear that kids know something that the world tries to make you unlearn later in life.

I really love Durham more than any place I've ever been; some small towns can be really provincial and strangling, but Durham is the best city in the world.