You can only maintain an immensely gothic attitude for so long before either killing yourself or beginning to feel like a poser.

New Orleans cuisine is Creole rather than Cajun.

In the Netherlands I read the first chapter of Exquisite Corpse to an audience that laughed in all the places I thought were funny - an experience I've never had in America!

The night is the hardest time to be alive and 4am knows all my secrets.

You hold onto what you have; you do not give it up easily, even when you know it is poisoning you.

Some nights are made for torture, or reflection, or the savoring of loneliness.

I can't heal your pain but I can see it. And you don't have to be lost. Not forever.

Young writers shouldn't be afraid of striving to emulate their favorites. It's a good way to learn, as long as you move on from it and don't publish too many of the results.

Never relinquish your terrors. That's when they catch you.

Ive tried to avoid labels, but they always find you.

My childhood may have been more demented than most, because I learned to read very early and was allowed to read whatever I wanted.

he way up is through service, Sacrificial service - it is better to serve than to be served

We are indeed a nation of shopkeepers.

The only thing that I'd rather own than Windows is English, because then I could charge you two hundred and forty-nine dollars for the right to speak it.

We need to do a better job of understanding what the world is.

Let's start with where you are,' he said. 'You're here.' Taking her hand, he pressed it to his chest above his heart.

If a work of art or a new style disturbs you, then it is probably good work. If you hate it, it is probably great.

I'm on my way to a place where I'd never dreamed I'd be, and that's perfection.

Peace starts with a smile

Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.

If there was no other motive in view [except] to have the privilege of reading over our journals and for our children to read, it would pay for the time spent in writing it.