But, she knew, you didn’t have to marry your soulmate, and you didn’t even have to marry an Interesting. You didn’t always need to be the dazzler, the firecracker, the one who cracked everyone up, or made everyone want to sleep with you, or be the one who wrote and starred in the play that got the standing ovation. You could cease to be obsessed with the idea of being interesting.

I have never been much of a researcher

In The Interestings I wanted to write about what happens to talent over time. In some people talent blooms, in others it falls away.

Books light the fire-whether it's a book that's already written, or an empty journal that needs to be filled in.

People like to warn you that by the time you reach the middle of your life, passion will begin to feel like a meal eaten long ago, which you remember with great tenderness.

For me, a novel relying too heavily on a single idea might be a dry, deadly thing unless it possesses an animating force.

We are all here, on this earth for only one go around. And everyone thinks their purpose is to just find their passion. But perhaps our purpose is to find what other people need.