I'm sure Proust was a big bore.

One of the most difficult things in writing a novel or anything at all is to choose the point of view from which it's going to be told.

Good writing is rewriting.

I live in Brooklyn. By choice. Those ignorant of its allures are entitled to wonder why.

[T]he army of wrongness rampant in the world might as well march over me.

One day, I started writing, not knowing that I had chained myself for life to a noble but merciless master. When God hands you a gift, he also hands you a whip; and the whip is intended solely for self-flagellation... I'm here alone in my dark madness, all by myself with my deck of cards - and, of course, the whip God gave me.

I've never worked for a newspaper. I've had some very bad reviews in newspapers.