I think we're in an age starved for genuine experiences, instead of cathartic phony experiences through the media, structured, engineered experiences. And those are the fast food, the masturbation of experience. They don't really exhaust any aspect of ourselves; they don't make us any stronger.

Where we're standing right now, in the ruins in the dark, what we build could be anything.

If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?

What you have to consider is the possibility that God doesn't like you. Could be, God hates us. This is not the worst thing that could happen.

It only takes one mistake,' the Dan Banyan guy says, 'and nothing else you ever do will matter.' With his empty hand, he takes one of my hands. His fingers feel hot, fever-hot, and pounding with his heartbeats. He turns my hand palm-up saying, 'No matter how hard you work or how smart you become, you'll always be known for that one poor choice.' He sets the blue pill on my palm, saying, 'Do that one wrong thing- and you'll be dead for the rest of your life.

If it comes down to a choice between being unloved and being vulnerable and sensitive and emotional, then you can just keep your love.

A writer’s job is to cultivate what can go wrong.