Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.

It's hard to say how we compare to other people. We each inhabit our own personalities. I have often felt that I'm a very neutral being and that I have almost no personality. I'm drawn to writing partly because I'm fascinated by the mimetic process.

A writer can't subtract or excise any of his/her past because doing so would erase the work produced during that time.

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

It feels good, honey, but it isn't love.

It's one of those secrets that's embarrassing to acknowledge, but we do love our students.

In a sense, I may not consciously know what I'm doing. I feel that I'm telling a story. I'm a kind of medium by which something is transmitted.