For obviously the advantage for most writers is that no one sees them. The writer is invisible, which confers power.

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

It's a taboo subject. How the dead are betrayed by the living. We who are living--we who have survived--understand that our guilt is what links us to the dead. At all times we can hear them calling to us, a growing incredulity in their voices, You will not forget me -- will you? How can you forget me? I have no one but you.

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."

Homo sapiens is the species that invents symbols in which to invest passion and authority, then forgets that symbols are inventions.

All that matters in life is forging deep ties of love and family and friends. Writing and reading come later.

... such speculation is like staring into the hot white sun. you know the sun is there but you can't see a thing.