Writer

I don't think I found my voice until I reached New York. I suppose it's possible I would have had some kind of different literary career if I had not discovered New York.

I feel that there's a lot of would-be guardians of the culture who think that high-minded literary purpose and the life that gets chronicled in the gossip columns, that these two things are incompatible.

I envy those writers who outline their novels, who know where they're going. But I find writing is a process of discovery.

If being a spokesman for a generation is a fleeting occupation, being a symbol of an era is downright dangerous for anyone who has the bad luck to outlive it.

Love is the eternal quest: almost everyone wants to love and be loved.

My former wife is a very eccentric woman, which is why I still love her.

Yeah, 'Gossip Girl' is a good show. It's a real New York show, like 'Sex and the City.'

Add anchovies to almost anything, in moderation, and it will taste better.

The most interesting things that happen in my books are usually the things that arise spontaneously, the things that surprise me.

When you catch yourself lying to your therapist, you know it's a waste of money.

Most novelists I know went through a period of intense self-examination and self-loathing after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I certainly did.

I don't want to have my life fall apart for my work.

I'm afraid that - not necessarily deliberately, but consistently - I've made a kind of laboratory out of my life, where I mix the stuff in the test tubes to create explosions - possibly resulting in interesting by-products. I mean, not deliberately - I'd be crazy to deliberately do that - or maybe not.

Most novelists I know went through a period of intense self-examination and self-loathing after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I certainly did.

I don't think I found my voice until I reached New York. I suppose it's possible I would have had some kind of different literary career if I had not discovered New York.