Travel works best when you're forced to come to terms with the place you're in.

I don't think I've ever seen a person having a serious conversation on a cellphone. It's like a kiddie thing, a complete time waster.

A novel captures essence that is not possible in any other form.

An island is a fixed and finite piece of geography, and usually the whole place has been carved up and claimed.

He regarded himself as an accomplished writer — a clear sign of madness in anyone.

I know there are writers who feel unhappy with domesticity and who even manufacture domestic turmoil in order to have something to write about. With me, though, the happier I feel, the better I write.

...a society without jaywalkers might indicate a society without artists.