When I'm writing books, something weird happens; and the result is the books contain a large amount of what you could call 'supernaturalism.' As a writer, I find I need that to explain the world I'm writing about.

The West should be tougher on Pakistan. It is trying to play both ends against the middle - to look like the friend of the revolutionaries on the one hand and a friend of the West in the fight against terrorism. It can't be both things.

Once you put a thought into the world, it can be disagreed with, but it can't be unthought.

Thomas Pynchon looks exactly like Thomas Pynchon should look. He is tall, he wears lumberjack shirts and blue jeans. He has Albert Einstein white hair and Bugs Bunny front teeth.

The only people who see the whole picture,' he murmured, 'are the ones who step out of the frame.

I discovered that if you find the language to talk to younger readers, children can accept anything.

I'm a big-city boy. What I like is big cities. It's not just what I like. It's what I write about.