Never confuse faith, or belief — of any kind — with something even remotely intellectual.

It seems to me that a great deal of this type of censorship has to do with absolving parents of responsibility - parents who just plop their kids in front of the television and leave them there hour upon hour.

You don't want to be ungenerous toward people who give you prizes, but it is never the social or political message that interests me in a novel. I begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character.

There's no reason you should write any novel quickly.

I believe in rules of behavior, and I'm quite interested in stories about the consequences of breaking those rules.

The only way you get Americans to notice anything is to tax them or draft them or kill them.

Self-hatred is worse than loneliness.