I've known for years that resentments don't hurt the person we resent, but they do hurt us.

Rule 1: When all else fails, follow instructions. And Rule 2: Don't be an asshole.

The last song was so deep and raw and pure that I could not escape. It was as if the people were singing in between the notes, weeping and joyful at the same time, and I felt like their voices or something was rocking me in its bosom, holding me like a scared kid, and I opened up to that feeling-and it washed over me.

The problem with God - or at any rate, one of the top five most annoying things about God - is that he or she rarely answers right away.

For too long, and despite what people told me, I had fallen for what the culture said about beauty, youth, features, heights, weights, hair textures, upper arms.

Frequently, as so many poets and psalmists and songwriters have said, the invisible shift happens through the broken places.

If something inside of you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act—truth is always subversive.