What night gave Rafael was a formlessness in which everything had a purpose. As if darkness had a hidden musical language.

Meanwhile with the help of an anecdote I fell in love. Words caravaggio. They have a power.

As someone who writes novels that are often set in other periods of time or other ages or other landscapes, there's a certain element of research I have to do, and often, the more laconic people are, the more interesting they become.

He came to this country like a torch on fire and he swallowed air as he walked forward and he gave out light

You are doing something over here and over there someone is telling you a joke, or giving you an important piece of information about sanitation, and no matter how weird the other subject is, there is a connection, or you can make a connection. I’ve always loved history and history is collage, it is a juxtaposition of the good and the bad and the strange, and how you place those sentences together changes the whole mood of a history.

When I read biographies, I skip the first thirty pages about the childhood because it doesn't seem interesting to me.

Half a page--and the morning is already ancient.