In contrast to the written account-which, depending on its complexity of thought, reference, and vocabulary, is pitched at a larger or smaller readership-a photograph has only one language and is destined potentially for all.

What I expect from writers-and from myself as a writer-is to articulate a complex view of things. To incite us to be more compassionate. To orchestrate our mourning. And to celebrate ecstasy.

Photography is a kind of overstatement, a heroic copulation with the material world.

One set of messages of the society we live in is: Consume. Grow. Do what you want. Amuse yourselves.

Sight is a promiscuous sense. The avid gaze always wants more.

The last sentence of a book is, of course, where you have to stop.

I don't write because there's an audience. I write because there is literature.