Parenthood abruptly catapults us into a permanent relationship with a stranger.

I like the relative literacy of at least some of England. I mean, I didn't come for the food or the weather!

There is a line that I always loved from Lucretius. He said, "The sublime is the art of exchanging easier for more difficult pleasures." The presumption of that formulation is that the more difficult pleasures are actually better than the easier pleasures. That is why one makes the exchange.

I don't understand what the nature of God is. But I do have the feeling that I'm at some feet, and lucky to be there.

I feel, as a matter nearly of faith, that if you have known a certain amount of suffering and have emerged out of it into the light, you are obliged to share that light with as many of the still-beleaguered as possible.

I have always believed in trying to be a good person and giving to the world, and treating others in a just, kind, merciful way.

I think it's up to the parents to determine whether what they're doing is consigning their child to difficulty. It's not as though they were crippling their children after they were born.