New York is an ugly city, a dirty city... But there is one thing about it. Once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough.

It's the easiest thing in the world to know God's will. You just wait and see what happens, and that's it.

The short story, I should point out, is perforce a labor of love in today's literary world; there's precious little economic incentive to write one.

I've always essentially been a New Yorker.

As my late mother famously observed, the one thing to be said for growing old is that every year there are a few more things I don’t have to give a rat’s ass about.

I never know what I'm going to write next, and when I think I do I usually turn out to be mistaken.

If fate sends you a lemon, use it to make lemonade.