No single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.

In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what's human and magical that still live and glow despite the times' darkness. Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it'd find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it.

The entire ball game, in terms of both the exam and life, was what you gave attention to vs. what you willed yourself to not.

Acceptance is usually more a matter of fatigue than anything else.

To be willing to sort of die in order to move the reader, somehow. Even now I'm scared about how sappy this'll look in print, saying this.

God, what a ghastly enterprise to be in, though-and what an odd way to achieve success. I'm an exhibitionist who wants to hide, but is unsuccessful at hiding; therefore, somehow I succeed.

Please learn the pragmatics of expressing fear: sometimes words that seem to express really invoke. This can be tricky.