“Something about the turbulence of adolescence makes you want to do something creative...I thought as I got older I would stop writing about it, but I find adolescence, and popular depictions of it, very interesting. I like to see where my own life intersects or diverges from notions of what a teenager is supposed to be, or what a black person is supposed to be, or a woman.”

“I suppose I do have one embarrassing passion- I want to know what it feels like to care about something passionately.”

“What I mean is, lots of time you don't know what interests you most till you start talking about something that doesn't interest you most. I mean you can't help it sometimes. What I think is, you're supposed to leave somebody alone if he's at least being interesting and he's getting all excited about something. I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice.”

“I'm just saying that I...I regret that everybody else has nineteen chances, and only I am limited to a single chance for my genes to continue.""Because you believe your genes would confer a great blessing upon the human race."Ram thought about this for a moment, "I suppose that's what every adolescent male believes with his whole heart.”

“There’s no room in my life for a woman. I mean I live in a closet, and I suppose I could squish my clothes over and she could squeeze in, but where is she supposed to put her clothes? And her shoes, what about her shoes?”

“No. I mean, med school is THE greatest challenge, right? I want to see if I can make it.""This isn't about a challenge.=," he says, a flash of anger in this eyes." "This is about finding what you love to do: doing something that makes you happy.”