Every man is the author of his own life.

It's June second, he told himself. Try to remember that. This is New York, and tomorrow will be June third. If all goes well, the following day will be the fourth. But nothing is certain.

There are certain phrases in books of mine, and I don't know where they came from, or how I was capable of thinking up these formulations. It's only in the heat of composition that these things occur to you.

I thought, "Well, I'm writing about early childhood, so maybe it would make sense to write about late childhood as well, early adulthood." Those were my thoughts, and this was how this crazy book [Winter Journal] was composed. I've never seen a book with pictures like at the end, pictures related to things you've read before.

I never feel I'm standing on solid ground, and I do write with a certain kind of trembling fear.

In Invisible there's a lot about childhood, the death of the brother and then the relationship between the brother and sister.

When you're young, you keep reading new writers and you keep changing your mind about how you ought to sound.