I am basically a pretty good autodidact. I can teach myself things.

We can approach belief from an intellectual path, but in the end, God must be taken on faith. Proofs are for things of this world, things in time and of time, not beyond time.

Whiskers of the cat, Webbed toes on my swimming dog; God is in the details.

No matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disagreement, and frustration as is the relationship you have with a good dog. Few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself. I also suspect that we cherish dogs because their unblemished souls make us wish - consciously or unconsciously - that we were as innocent as they are, and make us yearn for a place where innocence is universal and where the meanness, the betrayals, and the cruelties of this world are unknown.

Wealth is power, and power is the only thing about which contemporary culture cares.

Every writer has his own voice. Other than that I'm always trying to do change-ups and publishers haven't always been happy about that.

I never discuss a novel while I'm writing it, for fear that talking about it will diminish my desire to write it.