It was a silence that heard itself, awful and beautiful.

She likes the people with the endurance to tolerate the drudge, the ones who know that pain is a requirement, not a curse.

Let this be a lesson to us all, said the preacher. You will be walking someday in the dark and the truth will come shining through, and behind you will be a life that you never want to see again.

Literature can remind us that not all life is already written down: there are still so many stories to be told.

Cynicism is easy. An optimist is a braver cynic.

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.

About 25 years ago, I took a bicycle across the United States. I soon found out that the greatest item of clothing was the trusty bandanna. There were dozens of uses for a bandanna - as a pot holder, a chain cleaner, a sun shield, a headband, a snot rag, a declaration of Kerouacian intent.