I think what saved me, as a writer, is that there are really two breaking points in my life. One was when I was 19 and my mother died, and one was when I was 31 and my first child was born. And that sort of gave me a kind of rebirth that I think has been invaluable to me as a novelist, in terms of seeing the world anew.

Athletes are American princes and the locker room is their castle. Some of them behave in princely fashion, become legitimate heroes to us all. And some are jerks.

She say guilt is a useless emotion." "Oh, please," says Nancy. "Guilt is what separates humans from animals.

And sometimes you do everything right and something bad just happens. It's as simple, and as scary, as that.

So much of what you take for granted is the bedrock of happiness.

Familiarity breeds content.

what we call things matters. ... The words we use, and how we perceive those words, reflect how we value, or devalue, people, places, and things.