I believe that written stories will continue to survive because they answer an essential human need. I think movies might disappear before the novel disappears, because the novel is really one of the only places in the world where two strangers can meet on terms of absolute intimacy.

I don't know why the world has changed so much that writers are now expected to appear in public and talk about their work. It's something I find very difficult. And yet, one does have some sense of responsibility towards one's publishers, to the people trying to sell the book.

I want to write books that can be read a hundred years from now, and readers wouldn't be bogged down by irrelevant details.

My heart, to put it more simply, got nostalgic for the present. Always a bad sign.

Some people have things written all over their faces; the big guy had a couple of words misspelled in crayon on his.

For me, music is sort of the art that I can't incorporate into my person the way I want to.

How often had that hydrant even been opened? Did you jet water through a car window, what, twice at best? Summer burned just a few afternoons long, in the end. As for flying, Dose never even glanced at the sky. Flying was a summer within a summer, a whim. So why think of it at all?