A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.

Self-respect. It would make me lovable. And it's the secret to good sex.

You have to sink way down to a level of hopelessness and desperation to find the book that you can write.

What pornography is really about, ultimately, isn't sex but death.

Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work-driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures.

A good book is an education of the heart. It enlarges your sense of human possibility what human nature is of what happens in the world. It's a creator of inwardness.

My library is an archive of longings.