I was loosely aware that most of my characters were fundamentally selfish people, but I didn't intentionally make that a theme.

I knew the basic outline of the novel [The Dissemblers] and would write whatever scene of the book I felt particularly excited about at the time.

I lived in New Mexico until I was seventeen, and honestly I've been homesick ever since I left.

I do think that it is one of the eternal questions about art, though - is all art intrinsically selfish?

Does art play a role in the greater good of society, or does it just promote the satisfaction of the artist? I go back and forth on that question.

The motivation to paint seems more pure, or at least more personal, when the artist is doing it for herself.

I've spent many a day worrying that I will never be able to write again!

I am a tragically bad artist.

I did take one drawing class in school, but for this book I spent a lot of time talking to painters and asking them silly questions.

I read letters and journal entries by [Georgia] O'Keeffe (which were infinitely more useful than any critical analysis of her work).

The book [The Dissemblers] officially came out two weeks after my thirtieth birthday...am I still young?

Yes believe it or not all self-made millionaires have had to get their hands dirty at some point in their rags to riches story.

A great magician is as divine as God and his stage is as majestic as the paradise.

Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.

Shy” was the sympathetic interpretation she got from older people. “Snotty” was the interpretation she got from people her own age.

Throughout his presidency, Clinton made a point of getting close - physically and emotionally - to the people whose problems his administration was working to solve.

Did you forget me? Or are you too scared to tell me that you met me in fear that I won't remember?

One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive.

Science is about finding ever better approximations rather than pretending you have already found ultimate truth. A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.

Modern reformers offer nebulous theories or write philanthropic novels. But your thief acts! He is as clear as a fact and as logical as a punch on the nose! And what a style he has!

We can never truly understand the people we hate; we can never truly hate the people we understand.