I'm just kind of really interested in athletes as artists of a pretty serious variety and people who devote themselves to what they do in a really in….

To my parents, writing seemed precarious and not the best idea..

I do think that sports is really rich dramatically that, and this is kind of a self-serving thing to say, but I wonder why there aren't more, better ….

I mean, first, almost all writers these days teach because they don't make enough money publishing to live on, to support themselves - people like To….

If you're part of any kind of writerly community, some of those people will have gone through MFA programs, and their thinking leaks into yours. So w….

It is no fun at all to have been writing a book for seven or so years, especially when you've never published anything before..

There are no whys in a person's life, and very few hows. In the end, in search of useful wisdom, you could only come back to the most hackneyed conce….

It remained an open question, how much sympathy love could stand..

It was strange the way he loved her; a side long and almost casual love, as if loving her were simply a matter of course, too natural to mention..

The challenge for any fiction writer is that your job involves simply sitting at a desk for a very, very long time..

I think the MFA programs have had a real effect on the state of American fiction, but I don't think it's a question of "this is written by someone wi….

I think that it is very interesting to write about a team because a team is a group of people who work in very close quarters and have very intense r….

My favorite sports novel is End Zone by Delillo. It's such a great looking book too, the black cover with the football player on it. It's just a fant….

Somehow, you can achieve a directness in the novel that you can't get anywhere else..

Fiction and nonfiction, for me, involve very different processes..

People thought becoming an adult meant that all your acts had consequences; in fact it was just the opposite..

You are skilled. I exhort you..

The novel has always been the form that incorporates other forms. For me, it has always been the ultimate medium..

I sold a book six years after I left an MFA program. In between, there was a lot of endurance of poverty and a lot of fighting off doubt. It's all a ….

I play American football every Saturday, which I find calming..

Heat radiated off Henry's face. Salty snot ran down his upper lip. A majestic fart propelled him to the top of Section 12, just at the springing of t….