People tend to be scared of what they can't see.

I have worked really hard to defy categorization, to break down a taxonomy whenever it comes my way.

Impotence, fetishism, bisexuality, and bondage are all facts of life, and our fiction should reflect that.

The past was so past it hurt.

I think literature is best when it's voicing what we would prefer not to talk about.

I am in Boston right now, in fact, to do work at the New England Historical Genealogical Library, where I'm trying to finish up tracing my lineage back to the seventeenth century.

I suppose I should say that I treasure blasphemy, as a faith of the highest order.

Genre is a bookstore problem, not a literary problem.

I judged about a zillion awards this year so Ive been reading a lot of books that just came out.

It's also true, however, that having conquered the regional writer ghetto, I am now intent on conquering the nationalist writer ghetto and moving out into the world more.

I'm trying to read more dead people because I keep having to read stuff for juries and so forth.

The ability to close sales effectively has never been confined to the last few moments of the conversation.

Just because I believe in the identity and integrity of my country doesn't make a xenophobe or a nationalist.

Any impatient student of mathematics or science or engineering who is irked by having algebraic symbolism thrust upon him should try to get along without it for a week.

We class schools into four grades: leading school, first-rate school, good school and school.

A lot of people like to downgrade Morocco and Africa like its all jungles and lions and sh*t. The actual truth is a lot of stuff is going on out there.

Iran is the prime state sponsor of terrorism in the world.

There are so many misperceptions and stereotypes out there that I would love to see clarified one day.

Perspective - Use It or Lose It.

I hate cowardice; I will have nothing to do with cowards or political nonsense.

The Utopians feel that slaughtering our fellow creatures gradually destroys the sense of compassion, which is the finest sentiment of which our human nature is capable.