(and Catholics give out forgiveness at about the same rate as politicians give out promises and whores give out)

Your mid-thirties is a good time because you know a fair amount, you have some self-control.

You're a library of me.

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.

The secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer.

People profess to have certain political positions, but their conservatism or liberalism is really the least interesting thing about them.

Novels and stories are sometimes very complex staging grounds to say, in fact, very simple things. Things impossible to say otherwise because they are repeated in so many exploitative contexts - adverts and TV shows and political speeches.