He realized now he was only just beginning to see the full extent to which it was his destiny to follow, to walk blindly into fates he could never understand. In fate there was reward, in turning over one's heart to God there was a magnificence that lay beyond description. At the moment one is sure that all is lost, look at what is gained!

Home, bed, sleep, mother--who knew more beautiful words than these?

But we cannot unbraid the story of another person’s life and take out all the parts that don’t suit our purposes and put forth only the ones that do.

It was too much work to remember things you might not have again, and so one by one they opened up their hands and let them go.

It makes you wonder. All the brilliant things we might have done with our lives if only we suspected we knew how.

People always say, "Can writing be taught?" I always think, I can teach you how to write a better sentence, how to do dialogue, how to do character, but I can't teach you how to be a decent person, and I can't teach you how to have something to say.

I believe, in my better moments, that there is a plan and things go not the way we want them to but the way they should.