I believe that any form of art is a species of exploration and transgression. ... Art by its nature is a transgressive act, and artists must accept being punished for it. The more original and unsettling their art, the more devastating the punishment.

What is a family, after all, except memories? Haphazard and precious as the contents of a catch-all drawer in the kitchen.

Why is humanism not the preeminent belief of humankind?

I am inclined to think that as I grow older I will come to be infatuated with the art of revision, and there may come a time when I will dread giving up a novel at all.

My writing is full of lives I might have led.

This was before voice mail, recorded phone messages you can't escape. Life was easier then. You just didn't pick up the phone.

When people say there is too much violence in my books, what they are saying is there is too much reality in life.