Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand.

I knew if I lived long enough I would be poet laureate of something.

I hated the soup and felt little for the can.

I got my style from a lot of different people, even my style of reading, even Johnny Carson inspired me.

You don't want to OD on improvisation.

I wrote every day. I don't think I could have written Just Kids had I not spent all of the 80s developing my craft as a writer.

By the time I was 10 or 11, I was completely demoralized. I thought, "I'm done. I'm never going to be a missionary," because my indiscretion column, whether it was little lies or stealing a Chunky bar, kept me from sainthood.