The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away.

It's what you do that makes your soul.

You can’t replace people you love with other people…But you can trust that you’re not going to run out of people to love.

I never think that anything I'm writing is bluntly political in any way. I'm not going for commentary.

Every one of us is called upon, perhaps many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, loss of a job...And onward full-tilt we go, pitched and wrecked and absurdly resolute, driven in spite of everything to make good on a new shore. To be hopeful, to embrace one possibility after another--that is surely the basic instinct...Crying out: High tide! Time to move out into the glorious debris. Time to take this life for what it is.

Every betrayal contains a perfect moment, a coin stamped heads or tails with salvation on the other side.

I believe with all my heart in delivering on my contract with my readers. They've got plenty of other things to do, so I had better give them a reason to turn every one of these 550 pages. This is my promise: I solemnly swear I'll make you laugh out loud at least once, cry a little in private, and burn whatever you left on the stove.