I'm a method writer. In order to write about the emotion, I have to experience it. I get physically tired and exhausted, devoting hours and hours and hours to it.

What kind of life can you have in a house without books?

I used to sleep with my books in piles all over my bed and sometimes they were the only thing keeping me warm and always the only thing keeping me alive. Books are the best and worst defense.

Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.

My father was always depressed. When he was home and sober, he was mostly in his room.

I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.

I realized that I might be a lonely Indian boy, but I was not alone in the loneliness. There were millions of other Americans who had left their birthplaces in search of a dream. (217)