I was obsessed with religious questions, the basics: Why are we here? Why is the world so beautiful?

I wish we had more visible Christian and Catholic leaders who talked about love.

Let the flesh instruct the mind.

We live in a world full of accidents finally in which on aesthetic principles have a consistency of which we can be sure. Right and wrong we will struggle with forever striving to create and maintain an ethical balance. Right and wrong we will struggle with forever, striving to create and maintain an ethical balance; but the shimmer of summer rain under the street lamps or the great flashing glare of artillery against a night sky – such brutal beauty is beyond dispute.

It's an awful truth that suffering can deepen us, give a greater lustre to our colours, a richer resonance to our words. That is, if it doesn't destroy us, if it doesn't burn away the optimism and the spirit, the capacity for visions, and the respect for simple yet indispensable things.

I never lie," I said offhand. "At least not to those I don't love.

I assume I don't need an introduction.