“You need a certain amount of nerve to be a writer.”

“The number of games went up or down according to the brutal, elegant logic of the economics of fun:a certain amount of difficultyplusa certain amount of your friendsplusa certain amount of interesting strangersplusa certain amount of rewardplusa certain amount of opportunityequaledfun”

“You need just the right amount of 'Fuck the world' and the right amount of belief in something...and you need the right amount of love.”

“You have a great deal of yourself on the line, writing— your vanity is at stake. You discover a tricky thing about fiction writing; a certain amount of vanity is necessary to be able to do it all, but any vanity above that certain amount is lethal.”

“I know from experience that females need a certain amount of chocolate. We have two of them in the house. I don't want them growing restless.”

“If you need drugs to be a good writer, you are not a good writer.”