I think a joke is a form of truth-telling. A good joke that's absurd contains elements of our daily darkness and also a possibility to escape that darkness. So, for me, humor is an attempt to capture everyday tragedy and everyday hopeful moments that we experience all of the time.

What isn't said is as important as what is said.

If you're writing a detective novel or horror or sci-fi, you want to expand or reinvigorate the genre in your own little way.

Slavery was a violent, brutal, immoral system, and in accurately depicting how it worked, you have to include that, obviously. Or else you are lying.

Having a wife and kids drove home the brutal reality of the slave system for me - the price it exacted on families. On the other hand, whenever I despair over our history, I am brought back to hope, the hope that things will get better, for my children.

I use New York to talk about home, but the ideas in 'Colossus' could be transferred to other cities. The story about Central Park is really about the first day of spring in any park. The Coney Island chapter is really about beaches and summer and heat waves.

The Declaration of Independence is that sacred American text so full of meaning and purpose and yet quite empty if you examine it and pull it apart because the words 'All Men' exclude a vast number of citizens.

'Sag Harbor' was a very different book for me. It changed the way I thought about books that I wanted to do.

Sometimes the wrong thing is said or things don't come out the way they were intended.

For the first time, I'm wondering if a couple of our kids are as good as they're supposed to be. They were in Maui, and they aren't now. Marquette had a lot to do with that.

For the first time, I'm wondering if our kids are as good as they're supposed to be. I'm not sure of anything because I'm just stunned.

If he's not one of the best two or three kids in the country, then I guess I've lost my judgment about how good a guy can be.

I do know the feeling of being a 15 or 16 because I was there myself. I know how exciting it is and I know all Albany wants is an opportunity to show how good they are.

I'll be honest with you that on Sunday all I'll look at is the bracket and see if it's a good bracket. But I'd rather go West. I think New York City is not good for us. There's too much family around. I like having control and not have other people thinking about the wrong thing.

I'm going home feeling good because I think we're getting a little better. And I think we'll get a lot better.

Exact opposite teams. We've got to be good at what we do.

It's always good to be No. 1 in anything but it's not great at this time of year. I want it at the beginning of April, but I'll take it now. Being No. 1 isn't a goal of ours like the Big East championship or the national championship, but we feel we're one of the better programs in the country for the last 15 years and being No. 1 is another notch for us as a total program.

They gave us a good old-fashioned butt-whipping. We were god-awful. For the first time, I'm wondering if a couple of our kids are as good as they're supposed to be.

They pass exceptionally well. They have three seniors and they have very good big people. The most disappointing aspect was that one-on-one, our two 6-10 kids could not guard their two 6-7 kids.

Coaches all understand. Coaches aren't responsible for the actions of their players, but if you're a good coach you feel very responsible for their actions.

No matter how his shot looks - funny to all of us - or if someone is right in his face, it doesn't matter. He only sees orange, that little round thing. As long as he's squared up, he'll make shots. He's too good a shooter. And he really works so hard at it. This, by the way, is far and away his best season.

Rashad doesn't mind who he takes a three on. We put him at point guard and every play worked its way to be for him. That's kind of unusual. He will be on track to be the greatest 3-point shooter we've ever had here, and we've had some pretty good ones.

The second half would have been a good night to play against anybody. Every time you made a change ... You pressed us? We dunked it. You zoned us? We 3-pointed it.

There's no good losses, no moral victories, nothing of that nature. But the champion in them did come out. They weren't going away without trying to win a game.