"To really be centered and to really work well and to think about the kinds of things that I need to think about, I need to spend large amounts of time alone."

"But romantic vision can also lead one away from certain very hard, ugly truths about life that are important to know."

"The novel is about five students of classics who are studying with a classics professor, and they take the ideas of the things that they're learning from him a bit too seriously, with terrible consequences."

"Everything takes me longer than I expect. It's the sad truth about life."

"I suppose one has a greater sense of intellectual degradation after an interview with a doctor than from any human experience."

"Pink Floyd is like a marriage that's on a permanent trial separation."

"The ought to be a worldwide cultural taskforce that just stops you when you have ideas like combining The Red Desert with an armored car heist movie."

"The stoutest timber is forged in the fiercest gales, not in the sheltered grove. Remember this in moments of decisive trial."