Do you remember when you were 10 or 11 years old and you really thought your folks were the best? They were completely omniscient and you took their word for everything. And then you got older and you went through this hideous age when suddenly they were the devil, they were bullies, and they didn't know anything.

People used what they called a telephone because they hated being close together and they were scared of being alone.

Why is it you feel like a dope if you laugh alone, but that's usually how you end up crying?

The most boring scenes are the scenes where a character is alone.

If anything I try to write something that would be more difficult to film. I tend to see film as competition and would like instead to do what books do best.

Do you remember when you were 10 or 11 years old and you really thought your folks were the best? They were completely omniscient and you took their word for everything. And then you got older and you went through this hideous age when suddenly they were the devil, they were bullies, and they didn't know anything.

You hear the best stories from ordinary people. That sense of immediacy is more real to me than a lot of writerly, literary-type crafted stories. I want that immediacy when I read a novel.

Some of the best ideas I get seem to happen when I'm doing mindless manual labor or exercise. I'm not sure how that happens, but it leaves me free for remarkable ideas to occur.

Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home... it's your responsibility to love it, or change it.

If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character, would you slow down? Or speed up?