I always write out of a need to read something, rather than a need to write something.

The hardest part of writing is not to get the ideas but to remember, why it is important to get them.

We all choose things, and we also all choose against things. I want to be the kind of person who chooses for more than chooses against.

Only humans can cry tears.

I put my hand on the doorknob because I thought maybe her hand was on the doorknob on the other side.

We were quiet on the car ride home. I turned on the radio and found a station playing "Hey Jude." It was true, I didn't want to make it bad. I wanted to take the sad song and make it better. It's just that I didn't know how.

Jed Perl writes precisely and ecstatically. Antoine' s Alphabet is a history and a fairy tale, a work of criticism, and a work of art.