I think it's really boring, from the point of view of the novelist, to write about yourself. Tedious. But that's very hard to explain to people who really don't believe in the possibility of invention.

To know you will be lonely is not the same as being lonely.

The great thing about using the past is that it gives you the most colossal freedom to invent. The research is necessary, of course, but no one writes a novel to dramatically illustrate what everybody already knows.

I don't think you have the right to shout about other people's private life.

Nostalgia is something we think of as fuzzy. But it's pain. Pain concerning the past.

I'm interested in where we are, where we're going, where we've come from.

I never base characters on real people. There are people who do that but I really don't know how to do it.