I fall down on the side of free will, simply because if you look at where I came from, and what I was able to do in my life, what was able to happen.

You can con God and get away with it, Granny said, if you do so with charm and wit. If you live your life with imagination and verve, God will play along just to see what outrageously entertaining thing you'll do next.

Life had not taught me to distrust ministers, but it had taught me to trust no one more than dogs.

There's lots of law these days, but not much justice.

One of the underlying things I like to do in books, is just say, stop and look at this for a moment. Not that you've got to believe that Jesus was real, or not to believe in God, but the belief that it isn't just happenstance.

the worst happens when you least expect it

The brain acknowledged the approach of death while the heart stubbornly insisted upon immortality.