I don't think about the stories so much, as the characters themselves. They live on, and they are almost as real as I am.

It's like a mathematical law, Grace.

Cities - I'm attracted to them, and I have a special attachment to New York...it's my place.

I project myself so deeply into the characters in novels that I'm not thinking about my own life.

Nothing lasts, you see, not even the thoughts inside you. And you musn't waste your time looking for them. Once a thing is gone, that is the end of it.

[Lev] Tolstoy is not a boy-writer. He's a grown-up. And [Fedor] Doestoeivski is not a boy-writer.

The joke is the purest, most essential form of storytelling. Every word has to count.