I've moved away from that sort of deep-ecological extremism. I started to think: what can we do for wild birds right now? I don't want these particular species to disappear.

It's very liberating for me to realize that I don't have to step up to the plate with a plot that involves the U.N. Security Council.

To me, the point of a novel is to take you to a still place. You can multitask with a lot of things, but you can’t really multitask reading a book.

If you want to have friends, you have to remember that nobody's perfect.

There is, after all, a kind of happiness in unhappiness, if it's the right unhappiness.

He couldn't figure out if she was immensely well adjusted or seriously messed up.

The Mekons were kind of like the background music of my life.