I can't imagine anybody who ends up being an artist who didn't pass through a time of geekiness.

I know a number of people who - from the comments they make - are going to vote for [Donald] Trump when that curtain closes. But let's keep it real honest here: They are voting for a xenophobic, anti-Latino white supremacist - don't try to pretty it up. This is now the age when people want to be white supremacists, but they don't actually want to be known for it.

She was the kind of girlfriend God gives you young, so you'll know loss the rest of your life.

I was really drawn to thinking about the women in my life. Thinking about my mother, who's a very powerful force on me. And I have these two very strong sisters who took up a lot of imaginary space in my life.

In order to write the book you want to write, in the end you have to become the person you need to become to write that book.

We all have a blind spot and it's shaped exactly like us.

Then you look at her and smile a smile your dissembling face will remember until the day you die. Baby, you say, baby, this is part of my novel. This is how you lose her.