It is only through disruptions and confusion that we grow, jarred out of ourselves by the collision of someone else's private world with our own.

I believe that art is the highest expression of the human spirit. I believe that we yearn to transcend the merely finite and ephemeral; to participate in something mysterious and communal called 'culture' - and that this yearning is as strong in our species as the yearning to reproduce the species.

There is nothing "ordinary" about reality.

My students often say, "My roommate read this story and really liked it", and it's hard to convince them that there are things wrong with it. I say, "well, people who love you want you to be happy. But I'm your professor and I'm supposed to be teaching you something."

Art is about freedom of expression, and should not be molded to fit any propaganda or lofty ideal.

Impossible not to imagine the dead observing us. Our love for them a soft, shimmering gossamar that trails behind us.

You need so much energy and encouragement to write that if someone says something negative, some of that energy goes.