Writing is an exercise in sculpture, chipping away at the rock until you find the nose.

Life's tallest order is to keep the feelings up, to make two dollars' worth of euphoria go the distance. And life can't do that. So fiction does.

The furthest out is the only place to be.

Writing is an exercise in sculpture, chipping away at the rock until you find the nose.

It's fine, precise, detailed work, the infinitely small motor management of diamond cutters and safecrackers that we do in our heads.

The peculiar dignity of men seen eating alone in restaurants on national holidays

I don't believe less is more. I believe that more is more. I believe that less is less, fat fat, thin thin and enough is enough.