I always liked the idea of leadership and being a captain.

I always loved the retail entertainment sector, like FAO Schwartz, where it's a little more exciting than just going into a little corner deli candy place.

My favorite place in the world is my dad's house in Montauk.

I think people always want candy, whether you're a kid or an adult.

There are still many tribal cultures where poetry and song, there is just one word for them. There are other cultures with literacy where poetry and song are distinguished. But poetry always remembers that it has its origins in music.

You want to say as little as you can and get the most punch out of it, always with the knowledge that people are not in the theater to listen to your music so much as to respond to the movie. You're a part of that experience.

Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?

You have a strange relationship with calamity when you're a writer: you write about it; as an artist, you objectify and fetishize it. You render life into material, and that's a creepy thing to do.