Have fun writing, because it enhances both the writer's and reader's experience.

The trick is to realize that one is not important, except insofar as one’s example can serve to elucidate a more widespread human trait and make readers feel a little less lonely and freakish.

The prospect of a long day at the beach makes me panic. There is no harder work I can think of than taking myself off to somewhere pleasant, where I am forced to stay for hours and 'have fun'.

The knowledge that my discriminations are skewed and not always universally desirable doesn't stop me in the least from making them.

In new work, we need to see the shadow, however faint, of previous literary effort.

The essay is a wonderful medium. I might mention that some writers who longed to be novelists were better as essayists: Sontag, Baldwin, Vidal, Mary McCarthy, Mailer.

Most good essays are conversations with yourself - not just your decided thoughts but your dilemmas.