You just have to keep getting out of your own way so that whatever it is that wants to be written can use you to write it.

They always threw their arms around and hugged me while crying our Yiddish endearments. Yet none of them believed in God. They believed in social justice, good works, Israel, and Bette Midler. I was nearly thirty before I met a religious Jew.

Grace is having a commitment to- or at least an acceptance of- being ineffective and foolish. That our bottled charm is the main roadblock to drinking that clear cool glass of love.

If you are hoping to find your self-worth and fulfillment in other peoples' opinion of your writing, you will never find it.

You just have to keep getting out of your own way so that whatever it is that wants to be written can use you to write it.

My idea of everything going smoothly on an airplane is (a) that I not die in a slow-motion fiery crash or get stabbed to death by terrorists and (b) that none of the other passengers try to talk to me. All conversation should end at the moment the wheels leave the ground.

I'm here to be me, which is taking a great deal longer than I had hoped.