Novels are more difficult simply because they are longer and require more juggling, but short stories are closer to perfection, if you can get the language right.

There are moments we return to, now and always. Family is like water - it has a memory of what it once filled, always trying to get back to the original stream.

She was forever tilted sideways by the notion that pain was inevitable, chance was cruel, and all human ingenuity should go towards the making of a good cup of tea.

The Irish are great for their tunes, but all their lovesongs are sad and their warsongs happy.

I think it is our job, as writers, to be epic. Epic and tiny at the same time. If you're going to be a fiction writer, why not take on something that means something. In doing this, you must understand that within that epic structure it is the tiny story that is possibly more important.

The world does not turn without moments of grace. Who cares how small.

Good days, they come around the oddest corners.