There're many ways, my dear, to victimize people. The most insidious way is to persuade them that they're victims.

I like to think of myself as a fiction writer who liked art enough to write about it for a while, and then went on to his fiction.

Most novelists write about twisted lives.

To be or not to be isn't the question. The question is how to prolong being.

Maybe what I admired most about John Steinbeck is that he never mortgaged his 45-acre heart for a suite in an ivory tower.

Death is simple. Life is messy. Give me life, the more complicated the better.

There is a comfort in conformity, a security in control, that is appealing. There is a thrill in domination, and we are all secretly attracted to violence.