Smells could bring a person back clearer than pictures even could.

It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice.

People imagine that missing a loved one works kind of like missing cigarettes,' he said. 'The first day is really hard but the next day is less hard and so forth, easier and easier the longer you go on. But instead it's like missing water. Every day, you notice the person's absence more.

People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have.

I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns

My stories are never quite good enough

The hardest novel to write was Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.