...When the government goes into the business of destroying trust, it goes into the business of destroying itself.

Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not.

Oh,Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer.

I’m a writer, and everything I write is both a confession and a struggle to understand things about myself and this world in which I live. This is what everyone’s work should be-whether you dance or paint or sing. It is a confession, a baring of your soul, your faults, those things you simply cannot or will not understand or accept. You stumble forward, confused, and you share. If you’re lucky, you learn something.

As a writer, I've always believed that while my work and I myself are embedded in whatever period I am writing about, clearly I am sensitive to the winds that are blowing in the culture. At the same time, I have always felt that the issue was not to deal with the problem in the abstract, but to deal with the people who are in that problem. The emphasis is on the people. The general problem begins to resolve itself even before the play is finished.

If I see an ending, I can work backward.

Rise early. Write. Disappoint your sons. Read the newspaper. Go to bed early. Success.