Utilitarian quotes

My father was a dentist. And my mother was a - do we still say "housewife"? A home engineer.

I knew that a day I took away from the work did not make me too happy.

A couple years ago, the novelist Russell Banks told me he was reading the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. I asked why. He said, 'Because I've always wanted to and am tired of having my reading assigned.' I thought it was a marvelous declaration of independence.

Charity is love; not all love is charity.

Everything creative is somewhat collaborative. If you're a painter and someone stretches your canvas, it was collaborative on some level. Ultimately I'm the writer for me, but also anytime one of my friends gets stuck with a bit, they can call me and I'm pretty good at helping them get there. I think we all work together on some level, but for the most part, we're on our own.

[Beowolf] is considered an epic because of its long speeches, its digressions, its repetition, and its being required.

I'm an American. We're a people diseased with progress.

Free people have a right to decide for themselves what they want to hear.

Different astronauts sleep in different ways.

You should get the feeling you should move. That's what is meant when people say the music moves me.