I know you can dream your way through an otherwise fine life, and never wake up, which is what I almost did.

I think once you love somebody, you love somebody; that's just how it is.

Paul Ryan's just a really, deeply evil little creature. But he's not little; he's actually quite tall, I'm sorry to see. I'm always sorry when really bad guys are tall.

Happiness for me is getting to write about the most important things I know.

When I write a novel I start each morning by reading for 20 minutes.

Being a slow reader would normally be a deficiency; I found a way to make it an asset. I began to sound words and see all those qualities - in a way it made words more precious to me. Since so much of what happens in the world between human beings has to do with the inconsideration of language, with the imprecision of language, with language leaving our mouths unmediated, one thing which was sensuous and visceral led to, in the use of language, a moral gesture. It was about trying to use language to both exemplify and articulate what good is.

My job is to have empathy and curiosity for things that I've never done. Also, I'm a person whom people talk to.