The purpose of fiction is to combat loneliness.

I think the word 'earnest' kind of has a negative connotation on some level. I think one of the things that's happened is that being cynical is somehow conflated with being sophisticated. I think that's problematic, to say the least.

Time off from the news is always something I welcome.

There's something melancholy about professors because they're chronically abandoned. They form these lovely relationships with students and then the students leave and the professors stay the same. It's like they're chronically abandoned.

I distinguish sentiment from sentimentality. Sentimentality makes your skin crawl. It's like too much sugar. But, sentiment is a great feeling.

I actually have a thing about proper nouns. They clang on my ear in a weird way when I hear them dropped into movies.

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.