I hadn’t been in proper school in three years. My parents were my two best friends. My third best friend was an author who did not know I existed.

Gus: "It tastes like..." Me: "Food." Gus: "Yes, precisely. It tastes like food, excellently prepared. But it does not taste, how do I put this delicately...?" Me: "It does not taste like God Himself cooked heaven into a series of five dishes which were then served to you accompanied by several luminous balls of fermented, bubbly plasma while actual and literal flower petals floated down around your canal-side dinner table." Gus: "Nicely phrased." Gus's father: "Our children are weird." My dad: "Nicely phrased."

Nothing really ever happens like you imagine it will.

When you acknowledge that there is nothing repulsive or unforgivable or shameful about yourself, it becomes easier to be that authentic person and feel like you're living a less performed life.

Stupid human voices always ruining everything.

I think all true stories are hopeful stories. I don't think there's any room for nihilism.

Amsterdam is like the rings of a tree: It gets older as you get closer to the center.