My grandfather, on my father's side, helped to draft one of the first constitutions of China. He was a fairly well-known scholar.

To fly, we must have resistance.

All my work is much more peaceful than I am.

I though about what death is, what a loss is. A sharp pain that lessens with time, but can never quite heal over. A scar. The idea occurred to me there on the site. Take a knife and cut open the earth, and with time the grass would heal it. As if you cut open the rock and polished it.

I was probably the first kid in my high school to go to Yale. I applied almost as a lark. Then, when I got there, I was the dumbest person in your class.

My dad was dean of fine arts at the university. I was casting bronzes in the school foundry. I was using the university as a playground.

Sometimes you have to stop thinking. Sometimes you shut down completely. I think that's true in any creative field.