I wouldn't be a very good writer if someone hadn't taught me how to read.

The world is a more engaging and less dramatic place than writers ever give it credit for being

I didn't feel up to writing about 9/11. If I were to write about it, it would take me years.

It is right that you have to have a tolerance for solitude. But when that solitude bears fruit, you can abandon it. You can be in the company of others.

Maturity, as I conceived it, was recognizing what was bad or peculiar in life, admitting it has to stay that way, and going ahead with the best of things.

I started reading literature at 17 or 18, and I felt this extra beat to life.

Life's passed along to us empty. We have to make up the happiness part.