[George Saunders] is very precise about what he is doing. There isn't a thing left to chance.

You can't state difference and also state equality. We have to state sameness to understand equality.

I wouldn't write about people who are living and who are close to me, because I think it's a very violent thing to do to another person. And anytime I have done it, even in the disguise of fiction, the results have been horrific.

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

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

Generally, women can't do this, but men retain the ancient ability to leave a family and a past. They just unhook themselves, like removing a fake beard, and skulk discreetly back into society, changed men. Unrecognizable.

This, after all, was the month in which families began tightening and closing and sealing; from Thanksgiving to the New Year, everybody's world contracted, day by day, into the microcosmic single festive household, each with its own rituals and obsessions, rules and dreams. You didn't feel you could call people. They didn't feel they could phone you. How does one cry for help from these seasonal prisons?