My brother and I were both teenage writers, and he was, I have to say, better than I was, but he went into science, and I went into writing.

It's rather useless to write a gripping narrative with nothing in it but climate change because novels are always about people even if they purport to be about rabbits or robots.

The desire to be loved is the last illusion. Give it up and you will be free.

The idea of the chickens with the multiple breasts and thighs came from an urban legend that some fast-food places had developed chickens with four thighs. It wasn't true, but it is a suggestive rumor.

Farewells can be shattering, but returns are surely worse. Solid flesh can never live up to the bright shadow cast by its absence. Time and distance blur the edges; then suddenly the beloved has arrived, and it's noon with its merciless light, and every spot and pore and wrinkle and bristle stands clear.

If you disagree with your government, that's political. If you disagree with your government that is approaching theocracy, then you're evil.

Richard liked to say he picked things up for a song, which was odd, because he never sang. He never even whistled. He was not a musical person.