It's just strange to think that so much of our enjoyment from sports comes from the elevation of arbitrary differences.

Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head.

The first person who throws the rock is a lot more radical than a hundredth person.By the time the riot has attracted a hundred people, you don't have to be nearly as much of a daredevil or a hothead or committed or any of those things to want to engage in a riot.

If you think success is about so many more things and is so much more arbitrary, then you can be much more open to the idea that you can be Ben Fountain and publish your great book at forty-nine.

I have a new way of doing things, and I don’t care if you think I’m crazy.

The trick to finding ideas is to convince yourself that everyone and everything has a story.

The face is not a secondary billboard for our internal feelings. It is an equal partner in the emotional process.