.. if you asked most people whether they believed in love or not, they’d probably say they didn’t. Yet that’s not necessarily what they truly think. It’s just the way they defend themselves against what they want. They believe in it, but pretend they don’t until they’re allowed to. Most people would throw away all their cynicism if they could. The majority just never gets the chance.

Writing a book has about it some of the anxiety of telling a joke and having to wait several years to know whether or not it was funny.

The secular world is full of holes. We have secularized badly.

The finest proof of our loyalty toward one another was our monstrous disloyalties towards everyone else.

People who go on to be writers are those who can forgive themselves the horror of the first draft.

It's perhaps easier now than ever before to make a good living; it's perhaps harder than ever before to stay calm, to be free of career anxiety.

We may not agree with what religions are trying to teach us, but we can admire the institutional way in which they're doing it.