A successful novel should interrupt the reader’s life, make him or her miss appointments, skip meals, forget to walk the dog.

I've always believed in God. I also think that's the sort of thing that either comes as part of the equipment, the capacity to believe, or at some point in your life, when you're in a position where you actually need help from a power greater than yourself, you simply make an agreement.

Give me just enough information so that I can lie convincingly.

The muses are ghosts, and sometimes they come uninvited.

and the rain went rollin down the windowpanes, and the shadows wiggled n' squiggled on her check and forehead like black veins.

Laughter... is like a hurricane: once it reaches a certain point, it becomes self-feeding, self-supporting. You laugh not because the jokes are funny but because your own condition is funny.

I think that's what people most always do with the stuff they can't make out - just forget it.