The contemporary American novelist benefits in a way from being ignored. It makes you angrier and makes you want to go into all of those places where you shouldn't.

I'm not interested in blind optimism, but I'm very interested in optimism that is hard-won, that takes on darkness and then says, 'This is not enough.'

Beyond right and wrong there is a field, I’ll meet you there. -Rumi.

He caught a glimpse in the mirror the other day, and how in tarnation did I acquire the face of my father’s father?

Ullmann had once written that the secret of every work of art was the annihilation of matter through form.

If you are wise you step through the darkness only one foot at a time.

The disconnect between his mouth and his mind. That’s where the camera came in. It was the unspoken thing between him and the others.

They told me Corrigan smashed all the bones in his chest when he hit the steering wheel. I thought, Well at least in heaven his Spanish chick’ll be able to reach in and grab his heart.

I’m only telling you on the truth,” he said. “If you can’t stand the truth, don’t ask for it.

I write about what I know; and I write about things that are new to me, and that I didn’t know before.