Novelists don't normally write about what's going on; they write about what's not going on. - Martin Amis

It used to be said that by a certain age a man had the face that he deserved. Nowadays, he has the face he can afford.

One of the historical vulnerabilities of literature, as a subject for study, is that it has never seemed difficult enough. This may come as news to the buckled figure of the book reviewer, but it's true. Hence the various attempts to elevate it, complicate it, systematize it. Interacting with literature is easy.

You don't have problems, only a capacity for feeling anxious about them, which shifts and jostles but doesn't change.