“I don't really read as much but I am reading a depressing book on the Holocaust....”

“I want to see children curled up with books, finding an awareness of themselves as they discover other people's thoughts.”

“Drawing is what you see of the world, truly see...And sometimes what you see is so deep in your head you're not even sure of what you're seeing. But when it's down there on paper, and you look at it, really look, you'll see the way things are...that's the world, isn't it? You have to keep looking to find the truth.”

“I don’t know why the publishers in New York don’t take a tip from Hollywood and just publish the outlines of novels rather than the completed books. Let the audience use their imaginations, as my Maw always says about radio. I would much prefer to read an outline of War and Peace than slog through eight hundred thousand words. Why do I need Tolstoy to describe snow? I can imagine snow, whether Russian snow or just regular snow. But book publishers seem to think that the authors should do all the work, and the readers should be waited on hand-and-foot like a buncha goddamn prima donnas.”

“I don't know what's more tragic, knowing how to read and choosing not to, or not knowing how to read and refusing to learn.”

“It’s a funny thing about writing. You get so balled up in a story idea that you lose your perspective and forget that human being might read your words someday.”

“I was driving pretty much the way everyone drives in LA, like elephants dancing on each others’ backs at a circus.”