Jane Smiley

Novelists of a conservative or more purely aesthetic bent hold up better on the surface, but their novels go in and out of fashion according to relevance or irrelevance.

Ignorance and bloodlust have a long tradition in the United States, especially in the red states.

A theory of creativity is actually just a metaphor. A pool of ideas, a well of memories, a voice.

I don't like to get in front of people.

I just had an idea that went right over my head.

What I know about Mike Tyson, I see in the boxing ring. As far as all of the gossip stuff that I hear about him, I know first hand to take that with a grain of salt.