Humans can be fairly ridiculous animals.

the novel is inherently a political instrument, regardless of its subject. It invites you - more than invites you, induces you - to live inside another person's skin. It creates empathy. And that's the antidote to bigotry. The novel doesn't just tell you about another life, which is what a newspaper would do. It makes you live another life, inhabit another perspective. And that's very important.

The substance of grief is not imaginary. It's as real as rope or the absence of air, and like both those things, it can kill.

Wherever I am, let me never forget to distinguish want from need

It is completely usual for me to get up in the morning, take a look around, and laugh out loud.

A breeze shook rain out of new leaves onto their hair, but in their pursuit of eternity they never noticed the chill.

What you lose in blindness is the space around you, the place where you are, and without that you might not exist. You could be nowhere at all.