A man I know who writes and aspires to be a novelist does very little reading, and he's not that successful. But I think it's because he's like the kid who wants to be a ballplayer and never goes to the ballpark or tries to hit a ball. So I'd say reading is the most important thing that I do, besides the actual writing. I'm always asking as I read, "How did the writer do this? Why do I suddenly have tears in my eyes? Why am I crying?"

I sometimes get tired because I can seldom read a book for pleasure. I'm like the play reviewer who happens to go to a play on an off day and can't help but view it critically.

It doesn't matter how big the body, it's what you do with it.

I have always had a sense that we are all pretty much alone in life, particularly in adolescence.

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.

...pain reaches a certain point and does not get worse but remains in all its intensity and you can survive it.

And he did see--that life was rotten, that there were no heroes, really, and that you couldn't trust anybody, not even yourself.