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

I've never seen novels as built things. I have a tendency to see them as found things so that I always feel a little bit like an archaeologist who's working to get some fragile fossil out of the ground. And the more you get out unbroken, the better you succeed.

On the subject of love at first sight, I’m with the Beatles: I believe that it happens all the time.

To me, the greatest thing in the world is downloading TV shows on iTunes because there are no commercials, and yet if I were a working stiff, I could never afford to do this. But I don't even think about money.

The trick is to teach yourself to read in small sips as well as long swallows.

If there's one American belief I hold above all others, it's that those who would set themselves up in judgment on matters of what is "right" and what is "best" should be given no rest; that they should have to defend their behavior most stringently. ... As a nation, we've been through too many fights to preserve our rights of free thought to let them go just because some prude with a highlighter doesn't approve of them

It's only a little secret, but having a secret makes me feel better. Like a human being again.