It's in great joy that we grasp truth.

I think to simply make fun of something isn't particularly interesting. I try to not just do a parody of something or belittle something or disparage something.

I can tell from about 20 yards away when someone has a manuscript for me. I can just tell - they have that look.

I always thought of my work as being animated by a spirit of unhinged generosity.

It's in great joy that we grasp truth.

I have an enduring, very robust infatuation with dictators. I have an infatuation with Stalin, Mao, and Mussolini. In the Paris Review interview I did (in 2013), I said my next book, this one, was going to be about Mussolini. I wound up only having a Mussolini cameo in the book.

I've always been entranced with theater.