Once a novel gets going and I know it is viable, I don't then worry about plot or themes. These things will come in almost automatically because the characters are now pulling the story.

I know that an important message is not a novel. To say that we should all be kind to our neighbors is an important statement; it's not a novel.

There must be areas in which a particular character does not represent you.

While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary.

...Nothing puzzles God

The damage done in one year can sometimes take ten or twenty years to repair.

It is praiseworthy to be brave and fearless, but sometimes it is better to be a coward. We often stand in the compound of a coward to point at the ruins where a brave man used to live.