I mainly read non-fiction, and that's probably because I have a huge amount of insecurity about my lack of education and the things I don't know.

If there is such a thing as a workaholic, I'm it, and that's what passes for leisure.

I can deal with conservatives in a democracy. With real conservatives, I don't agree with them, but I understand why they believe what they believe and I believe they're being honest with me about it.

Having a child at 55... that's optimism.

Becoming interested in poetics got me interested in theater. Theater is supposed to be poetry, you know, before it's anything else. It just doesn't fly if it isn't musical.

Fundamentalism, as practiced by the Taliban, is the enemy of real thought, and religion, too.

I'm not going to waste a second feeling sorry for myself because I'm not a bigger star than I am. I can walk down the street in most places in the world and I still drive really nice cars.