Our lives are not totally random. We make commitments, we cause things to happen.

Work is a way of shutting out ambiguous sentiment.

being funny is a way of being liked and a way of dealing with sadness.

I very much write from characters. Those people start speaking, and then I have them in the house with me and I live with them. Then at some point, it's time to get them out of the house. You can only live with someone like Dr. Georgeous Teitelbaum from THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG for so long, and then it's time for her to go. But it is very like having the company of these people and trying to craft them in some way into a story.

The real reason for comedy is to hide the pain.

to live life as a writer is a very lucky thing.

The trick. . .is to find the balance between the bright colors of humor and the serious issues of identity, self-loathing, and the possibility for intimacy and love when it seems no longer possible or, sadder yet, no longer necessary.