Nothing is harder than to accept oneself.

My greatest fear: repetition.

There is no art without Eros.

Either marriage is a destiny, I believe, or there is no sense in it at all, it's a piece of humbug.

I can understand the value of the immigrant experience and that we have become the nation that we are because people like my grandmother were able to make a life in this country.

We don't like admitting this, but it is a key component of human existence: the fact that life has the potential for things both wondrous and horrific.

The Russian yearning for the meaning of life is the major theme of our literature, and this is the real point of our intelligentsia's existence.

My time in New York really clarified things for me. I thought, 'What could I do with my life that would give it meaning?' And writing was that for me.