Kindness is not about instant gratification. More often, it's akin to a low-risk investment that appreciates steadily over time.

It never made sense to me that someone would achieve any kind of success in show business, only to become a jerk.

There's that great Bill Hicks line - the comedian - where he says, "Are you proud to be an American?" "I don't know. It's just where my parents had sex."

What I write is very personal, but not autobiographical. It's more 'thematically personal' - what's up in my life in terms of themes at the moment.

To write a story about New York that only deals with people in your age and socioeconomic bracket, that feels dishonest to me. So much of New York comes from everyone bumping into each other.

I haven't left the house without a packet of Kleenex in my back pocket for as long as I can remember. Whenever I start thinking I'm incredibly cool, the packet of Kleenex in my back pocket brings me right back down to earth.

I think that the mark of a great book is that it will meet you wherever you're at and you'll feel and experience something new and different each time you read it.