Stephen McCauley

“From what I can tell, the chief distinguishing factor between children and adults is that children hear everything while appearing not to and adults hear nothing while pretending to listen.”

“Early on, I got some criticism from other gay writers and queer theorists for being too 'assimilationist,' probably because my characters are outsiders, even in the gay world.”

“Ultimately, Cole Porter's music might say more about his life than any biography could. His songs, with their witty lyrics and debonair style, are an advertisement for his personality and his public persona.”

“My partner and I weed through our bookshelves and throw stuff out regularly.”

“We all have a central fiction about ourselves, a favored delusion about talent or untapped potential. Most of us hang on to it as if it were a lifesaver, even though the obsession with it is often the very thing that drags us down and prevents us from fulfilling some lesser but more obtainable goal.”

“One of my pleasures is observing people's behavior and pointing out the inconsistencies that we all sort of have at the center of our lives.”

“I'm not a particularly disciplined person in terms of my work habits.”

“When you're sitting in the theater watching your own work be performed, you get to see people's reactions immediately. Unlike with a book, you don't have to wait for responses. That's very satisfying. Unless it's a joke that falls flat.”

“I have always had someone in my life that I consider my reading mentor because I come from a family where reading was not emphasized or even approved of.”

“The book that made me cry hardest was 'Stoner,' by John Williams.”

“I loved Victoria Glendinning's bio of Vita Sackville-West. I also loved Michael Holroyd's immense biography of Lytton Strachey.”

“Honestly, I'm, like, the least religious person in the world.”

“I keep trying to write happy endings, but my books always end on more of a bittersweet note of ambiguity.”

“It's really fun to write something for kids. You can make it a little bit more extreme and crazy than you would for adults.”

“The only responsible way to write about anything is with honesty.”

“If you aren't a reader and you have a kid with his face buried in books, it can be a bit threatening. My parents viewed my reading as somewhat effeminate, but also subversive on some level.”

“I wish I could calculate my way to a bigger audience, but I don't think I'm smart enough. Actually, I don't think anyone is smart enough. Most calculations along those lines fail.”

“It's hard to describe the work of the British-born Australian writer Elizabeth Jolley without somewhat misrepresenting it.”

“When you're laughing aloud at David Sedaris' every sentence, it's easy to miss the more serious side of what he's up to.”

“I think libraries give the feeling that people are there to work. It's a little bit like an artist's colony in the sense that there's some sort of shared experience. There's respect for quiet, more or less, but otherwise, there's activity.”