I feel akin to [William] Shakespeare in the sense that, as I see it, he lived to dramatize the unfailingly exciting, unfathomably strange interplay among human beings that constitutes "scenes" in his plays, and constitutes "story" in prose fiction.

Running! If there's any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can't think of what it might be.

What does it mean to be born? After we die, will it be the same thing as it was before we were born? Or a different kind of nothingness? Because there might be knowledge then. Memory.

Except that awards are competitive, which is a negative thing, they are wonderful for singling out deserving individuals and bringing their work to the attention of many potential readers who might otherwise have been totally unaware of them.

Writing! The activity for which the only adequate bribe is the possibility of suicide, one day.

Writing allows for fictitious voices - the voices of persons unlike myself - that might otherwise be muted.

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