For madness must be punished in a world in which mere sanity is prized. The revenge of the ordinary upon the gifted.

We are stimulated to emotional response, not by works that confirm our sense of the world, but by works that challenge it.

I'm very American in the sense of being an explorer. America is filled with people who are interested in exploring landscapes, either external or internal. A westward nation of explorers.

I never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.

Most people who are writers go through periods when they can't write.

When you give up struggle, there's a kind of love.

I have beliefs, of course, like everyone-but I don't always believe in them.