I wanted to be a painter.

The second we see somebody on the street or meet someone, we make snap judgments about them, about who they are and why we wouldn't necessarily sit with them or why we would or what's cool or not cool.

I don't want to wait more than a year and a half or two years between books.

It's just something that's sort of funny, sort of not.

Milkmen seem so wholesome, and there's no way anybody can be that wholesome.

We live in a society that blames everybody else for what's wrong.

People get really caught up in their own trips.

We all have our pet things that we like to get religious about.

You ever try to go a day without judgment?

Yeah, I don't deal with current events or pop culture, and I avoid politics like the plague.

That's not so important to me, that time thing.

People are going to behave however the social norms permit, and beyond that.

I wanted to be a painter.

I am too old for an eyebrow piercing but too young for an eyebrow lift.

Now interpersonal politics... that's what it's all about.

As soon as I can afford a studio space, I'll paint again.

I just thought I'd take a break from publishing for a while.

I'm just trying to portray what I find ironic or humorous.

People are essentially red meat. They are.

I imagine I'll continue on doing it for many years to come.

I just don't want anyone messing around with my pure smoking pleasure.

I grew up in a military family, and there's something about that military-style uniform, all cleaned up, a brutal control effort the military necessarily breeds.

These censorship people think something is going to promote behavior in people.

I hope to actually get back to painting someday... soon. I sort of transitioned into cartooning from painting.

We're going to have the same demographic spread of nutcases and the same spread of everybody in between.

I was doing illustration work, and the cartooning slowly took over.

But if I'm going to cause somebody else discomfort by my actions, then I should probably modify my actions toward them to make them as comfortable as possible.

What really grabs me about living in Tucson is the color beige.

Well, I am a lot like my dad, and the character of Ted is based on my dad.

I've always been crazy for the American songbook.

To him it is an ocean, unfathomable, and without a shore.

I am just postmodern enough not to trust 'postmodern' as a description of our times, for it privileges the practices and intellectual formations of modernity. Calling this a postmodern age reproduces the modernist assumption that history must be policed by periods.

Do you often find yourself uttering the phrase, 'I feel like I should go?' You do not need to go. You are busy that night. You are busy every night, forever.

Stay away from stingy people. They are trapped in small souls.

People have said I'm a puppet, an instrument of my grandfather, but I think they quickly realised that I'm my own person, that I have autonomy in my actions. I think they rapidly realised I could look after myself.

Life is to blame for everything.

Women are taught that if you want to be a lady, keep your opinions to yourself and be polite.

The most important thing in my life is Christ. He's more important than winning or losing or whether I'm playing or not. Everything else is just a bonus.

To one extent, if you've seen one city slum, you've seen them all.

We shouldn't just consider the desire of government to do what it wants to do. We should always consider the resistance of people. The culture of Iranian people doesn't let the government drag people into deep trouble or backlash. Maybe government wants it, but the culture doesn't let it go on.

You know what's the worst part about being an actress? It's the pressure to look gorgeous all the time and to behave perfectly. But I'm not perfect; nobody is.

Every boss started as a worker.

There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.

Well, I think everything I've ever read contributes to the background from which I write.

Johnson had been the most powerful man in the world, yet the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong had resisted, overcome his power, broken his will.

Success is an absurd, erratic thing. She arrives when one least expects her and after she has come may depart again almost because of a whim.

Child-rearing is my main interest now. I'm a hands-on father.

One of the things my family taught me - I think very important in religion and science - is that you must be ready to stand up for what you think. Decide what you really think is best, and stick with it.

I write and have done so primarily for personal pleasure.