For me, George Saunders novel [Lincoln in the Bardo] is about a problem of pain.

It's still easier to find the correct Hoover bag than to find one pure person, one pure faith, on the globe.

I love to dance, and sing - in the shower, not in public. Im too old to go raving, but my fondest memories are of that kind of thing - dancing, with lots of people, outside if possible.

When people use that stream of consciousness, it's kind of just a term they use for anything that looks slightly different on the page.

Sometimes I think my whole professional life has been based on this hunch I had, early on, that many people feel just as muddled as I do, and might be happy to tag along with me on this search for clarity, for precision. I love that aspect of writing. Nothing makes me happier than to hear a reader say: that’s just what I’ve always felt, but you said it clearly.

When the male organ of a man stands erect, two thirds of his intelect go away. And one third of his religion.

A lot of women, when they're young, feel they have very good friends, and find later on that friendship is complicated. It's easy to be friends when everyone's 18. It gets harder the older you get, as you make different life choices, as people say in America. A lot of women's friendships begin to founder.