I know nothing of God or the Devil. I have never seen a vision nor learned a secret that would damn or save my soul.

The library furnished our dreams, helped us shape our ambitions, made up people of books and ideas and grand designs.

Fear is only good when you have a choice in things.

We are not damned. We never were. Who under the sun has the right to damn any living breathing creature?

Truth is a risky proposition. It's the nature of mediocre human beings to believe that lies are necessary, that they serve a purpose, that truth is subversive, that candor is dangerous, that the very scaffold of communal life is supported by lies.

Why does shame and self-loathing become cruelty to the innocent ?

Yes. To write a novel is to risk my sanity. The deeper I get into the suffering and conflict of the characters, into the very situations and thoughts and feelings that make the novel worthwhile, the worse I feel, and the more likely I am to be severely depressed when the book is finished. There is no avoiding this: it is the result of attempting to tell all you know, to reach for the stars, to write what matters.