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" I think that's what art is about: to provoke you. It helps me make sense of a senseless universe because I become the god of the story. I create it, and I see it in all its lineaments in my own way and can control it - in a world in which everything else is out of control. "

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" Of course all novelists are egomaniacs and want to draw everyone to their fold just like any other preacher. The snake-oil peddler, the false prophet, all of this is fascinating to me. But I certainly hope that I'm more humane than that. "

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" I describe myself as an environmentalist not because I'm marching in the street with placards but because I like to be in the woods by myself. "

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" It's hard to say how certain stories just punch us in the heart and the brain at the same time at the end. I suppose that's what we're all looking for. But each story has its own valence, its own way of saying goodbye to you. "

" I've always written about heroes and wondered who they are. "

" I read widely - for news, the arts, science, for entertainment, and the value of being informed - and, as a fiction writer, I can't help transposing what I learn into the scenario for a novel or story. "

" I hope to stay light on my feet, to work in many modes, to seek inspiration always, and avoid the fatal. But, as we all know, it is the price of life to burn out, both metaphorically and literally. "

" Art saved me. It may sound corny, but it's true. "

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" I've never really been met with indifference, where they say, 'Who cares?' I think that's what good art is supposed to do. It's not supposed to make you feel good about your own prejudices and your own values; it's supposed to open you up in some way and get you outraged or make you happy or make you sad or whatever it's going to do. "

" I'm just kind of fascinated by how we can deny that we are animals and what our impact on the other animals is like, and how quixotic we can be in trying to assess what we've done in trying to correct it. "

" I do not want to repeat myself. I want to reach for something I've never attained. This is the excitement of art. "

" As humans, we all want our own island. Of course, the truth is, we're never going to get it. "

" I think the way to be a writer is to experience things, certainly, and be open to things, but at some point to become dedicated to the craft of writing and to create a stable environment for that writing to occur in. "

" The novel is a seduction; a reader has to be seduced. "

" I envy Jesus because he's dead. "

" Sometimes, we find common ground; more often, we don't. "

" I tell jokes, and I have fun, but I tend to worry about everybody and everything throughout the entire world. "

" I like to live in my own mind, regardless of everyone and everything, working out the intimate puzzles that are my stories and novels. "

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" I think, if I'm doing my job correctly, I'm presenting a scenario for you as the reader to engage with on your own. I mean, that's what the best art is supposed to do. It's not supposed to be political. I think if you read all my books, you know where I stand, pretty much. "

" You want, as an artist, to be pushing yourself to do what you haven't done before. "

" Books are up against TV and movies and video games and a multimedia society that is so busy that people don't have contemplative time any more. I worry deeply about this. In fact, I worry about everything all the time. I used to be a punk. All I wanted to do was tear everything down, and that was so much easier. "

" I can't read novels while I'm writing a novel, because somebody's voice creeps in. "

" Science has killed religion. There's no hope for the future with seven billion of us on the planet, and the only thing you can do is to laugh in the face of it all. "

" I never go anywhere without a book for fear of being stuck in line in front of the theater or strapped down in the dentist's chair and being bored witless. Thus, I read everywhere. "

" Look at Sam Beckett. Most depressed man who ever lived, but he sure was funny. "

" What higher art does is to invite us in and allow us to make decisions. "

" This is why fiction is an art, and life is not - how much more affecting is the lie than the truth. "

" I worry about everything in the world, and it's just too much for anybody to think about, so I have my art as my consolation. "

" My job is to engage, entertain, work out my life, tell a certain truth. "

" I love performing in front of an audience. I like the questions; I like controversy. "

" I'm not looking ahead joyfully to the rest of my life or the future of the human race. I've always written about man as an animal species among other animals, competing for limited resources. Our population is exploding. Our environment is dying. Science has debunked God. "