I had learned so much about the world that I had decided to withdraw from it.

I always try to be alert to the potential for repetition, for a decaying orbit with regard to my use of technique, etc.

Some questions will ruin you if you are denied the answer long enough.

When you think about the complexity of our natural world - plants using quantum mechanics for photosynthesis, for example - a smartphone begins to look like a pretty dumb object.

The map had been the first form of misdirection, for what is a map but a way of emphasizing some things and making other things invisible?

Nothing that lived and breathed was truly objective—even in a vacuum, even if all that possessed the brain was a self-immolating desire for the truth.

There's also a lot of gritty Americana type of bands. I actually have a lot of Britpop on my iPod, too.

I also am not particularly risk-averse - I don't mind jumping off a cliff if I trust the people who've told me they'll catch me at the bottom.

Imbuing fiction with a life that extends beyond the last word is in some ways the goal: the ending that goes beyond the ending in the reader's mind, so invested are they in the story.

So many differing opinions and philosophies... are rarely housed under the roof of a single magazine.

Literary influences are harder for me to point to, because mostly it's a mulch of all of my past reading.

And a special thanks for not burning up the whole ship. Including yourself, you daft bum-rag.

True inner peace can startle you! Be happy, smile, have fun. But only look for inner peace when you actually need it. After all, it is the fusion of every atoms of reality itself.

The practice of deception is foolishness because the truth always eventually surfaces.

The formula for complete happiness is to be very busy.

I hear the singing of the lives of women. The clear mystery the offering the pride.

You don't like dealing with somebody who denies horrible things happening to your people or threatens future horrible things to your people.

Even if you try to copy a film shot by shot, you still can't. It's still your own film.

Golf is not, and never has been, a fair game.

You know," Shane said twenty minutes later, "I'd feel a whole lot better about the two of us if you didn't think I was the go-to guy for breaking and entering.

I think that most great artists who are extremely known, as I am, would intimidate a lot of people. I don't want to do that to people, but I know I do.