To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness.

Start with the notion that yours is the sole responsibility unless there's powerful evidence to the contrary

If the writer were more like a reader, he’d be a reader, not a writer. It’s as uncomplicated as that.

The writer has little control over personal temperament, none over historical moment, and is only partly in charge of his or her own aesthetic.

History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.

Every love story is a potential grief story.

Irony - The modern mode: either the devil’s mark or the snorkel of sanity.