You Know, Im Always Surprised

I Think It's Dangerous To Think You Know What You're Writing. I Usually Don't Know, And Usually I Just Discover It In The Course Of Writing. I Envy Those Writers Who Can Outline A Beginning, A Middle, And End. Fitzgerald Supposedly Did It. John Irving Does. Bret Easton Ellis Does. But For Me, The Writing Itself Is The Process Of Discovery. I Can't See All That Far Ahead.

The Capacity For Friendship Is God's Way Of Apologizing For Our Families.

Bottles Of Wine Aren't Like Paintings. At Some Point You Have To Consume Them. The Object In Life Is To Die With No Bottles Of Wine In Your Cellar. To Drink Your Last Bottle Of Wine And Go To Sleep That Night And Not Wake Up.

The 20th Century Saw Far Greater Catastrophes Than September 11th, As Bad As It Was, And They Didn't Render Literature Or Art Or Music Irrelevant. In Fact, I Think That Literature And Art Help Us To Understand - Sometimes They Provide Narratives And Metaphors For Understanding History, For Understanding Recent Catastrophes.

Most All Of The Writers I Admired When I Was In My Teens And Twenties Died Young. Fitzgerald Lived The Longest. He Was 44. Dylan Thomas Was 39. And Then Once You're Approaching 40, You Suddenly Think, "well, Maybe I Would Like To Live Longer Than Fitzgerald Or Thomas."