Most really good fiction is compelled into being. It comes from a kind of uncalculated innocence. You need not have your ending in mind before you commence. Indeed, you need not be certain of exactly what's going to transpire on page 2. If you know the whole story in advance, your novel is probably dead before you begin it. Give it some room to breathe, to change direction, to surprise you. Writing a novel is not so much a project as a journey, a voyage, an adventure.

Laughter is holier than piety, freedom is sweeter than fame, and in the end it's love and love alone that really matters.

I am cheerful. I don't know if I'm happy. There is a difference, you know.

The winter passed as slowly and peacefully as a boa constrictor digesting a valium addict.

A thing is good because it is good, not because it is natural. A thing is bad because it is bad, not because its artificial. It is not a damn iota better to be bitten by a rattlesnake than shot by a gun.

The Middle Ages hangs over history's belt like a beer belly. It is too late now for aerobic dancing or cottage cheese lunches to reduce the Middle Ages. History will have to wear size 48 shorts forever.

A hamburger is an icon of layered circles, the circle being at once the most spiritual and the most sensual of shapes.