There are a great many sins in this world, none of them original.

My God, he couldn't help thinking, how terrible it is to be that age, to have emotions so near the surface that the slightest turbulence causes them to boil over. That, very simply, was what adulthood must be all about -- acquiring the skill to bury things more deeply. Out of sight and, whenever possible, out of mind.

If there's an enduring theme in my work, it's probably the effects of class on American life.

He looks like he could be taken in a fight. Not by me, but by somebody. Not anyone in Humanities, probably.

Who but an English professor would threaten to kill a duck a day and hold up a goose as an example?

Knowing and knowing what to do about it were two different things.

A short story is something that I think can be intuited and envisioned and held in your mind almost at once.