People are quite frequently eccentric.

Oh, that sound? I'm in the hot tub, reading a novel.

Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.

Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist.

I suspected that there were things he knew that I had been waiting all my life to learn.

In many ways, being honest about 'Huckleberry Finn' goes right to the heart of whether we can be honest about our heritage and our identity as Americans.

Even if my marriage is falling apart and my children are unhappy, there is still a part of me that says, 'God, this is fascinating!'

Take naps. Often new ideas come together when you are half asleep, but you have to train yourself to remember them.

Candy is my fuel. Ice cream, too.

But what truly horsey girls discover in the end is that boyfriends, husbands, children, and careers are the substitute-for horses

In every society, the artists will be the ones who set themselves up as contrary to whatever the society expects.

The real world is not easy to live in. It is rough; it is slippery. Without the most clear-eyed adjustments we fall and get crushed. A man must stay sober; not always, but most of the time.

I'm proud of most of the stuff I've put out and I hope my kids will look at it long after I'm gone and go, "hey, Daddy was cool once!"

Dear, dear, the miniature world of the family! All the emotions of mankind seem to find a place in it.

Why should art continue to follow nature when every other field has left nature behind?

The soul of man... is a portion or a copy of the soul of the Universe and is joined together on principles and in proportions corresponding to those which govern the Universe.

We suffer with those who have disappeared, those who have had to flee their homes, and those who have been tortured.

Our true character comes out in the way we pray.

I have a new joke today. Martha Stewart's on suicide watch. They had to unplug all of her ovens.

Somebody'll be me, tomorrow or whenever. I've been doing this awhile. My time's limited. I've been doing this awhile.