“Read. Always read. No one can take that away from you.”

“Everybody should read fiction… I don’t think serious fiction is written for a few people. I think we live in a stupid culture that won’t educate its people to read these things. It would be a much more interesting place if it would. And it’s not just that mechanics and plumbers don’t read literary fiction, it’s that doctors and lawyers don’t read literary fiction. It has nothing to do with class, it has to do with an anti-intellectual culture that doesn’t trust art.”

“Why will I bury you? So that one day I might disturb your grave.”

“I don’t think meaning exists without form, and certainly form does not exist without meaning. Meaning and story come first. Story is the most important part of fiction. Without it, what’s the point? If all you care about is form, become a critic.”

“Linda Mallory is the postmodern fuck.”

“It's okay to love something bigger than yourself without fearing it. Anything worth loving is bigger than we are anyway.”

“Happiness takes effort. You have to make yourself available to happiness. That is probably the best definition of faith that I can come up with.”