「Through the course of my fascinatingly dull life I've always found fiction so much more truthful than reality. And, yes, I'm aware of the irony.」


「Are you willing to devote your life to telling stories knowing that you may get nothing in return?」


「You write to show off your talent? Or to express what's in your heart?」


「It seems to me, indisputably true that artists and poets who have a reputation for producing a great or fine art have something garishly wrong with them as persons. A spectacular flaw in character or an extreme self-centeredness. And the public's thirst for their next supposed masterpiece only makes them want to hide from distractions even more.」


「I don't want to publish anymore. Well, writing's... It's become my religion. Publishing, it gets in the way of the meditation. It corrupts it. I don't know how to be a husband or a father. Or even a friend. All I know is how to be a writer. If I can truly do this... if I can dedicate my life to writing and get nothing in return then I think I can find some happiness.」