At least with pets, and for all I know, people too, intelligence and quick-wittedness have nothing to do with a talent for being loved, or being kind, nothing at all, less than nothing.

When you’re in love you don’t have to do a damn thing. You can just be. You can just stay quiet in the world. You don’t have to move an inch.

The worst mistakes I've made have been the ones directed by sweet-natured hopefulness.

[T]he astonishing purity of pain, how it will not be mixed with any other sensation.

Savor the imminent weirdness of the day.

A novel is not a summary of its plot but a collection of instances, of luminous specific details that take us in the direction of the unsaid and unseen.

When all the details fit in perfectly, something is probably wrong with the story.