In spite of where we were, how we had gotten here and why we had come, I felt that at this moment of our lives, this place was exactly where we belonged. We were not drifting but rising, rising toward something right and of significance.

In my books, I never portray violence as a reasonable solution to a problem. If the lead characters in the story are driven to it, it's at the extreme end of their experience.

Darkness dwells within even the best of us. In the worst of us, darkness not only dwells but reigns.

No degree of prosperity can be sufficient to eliminate all misfortune, and sloth is impervious to opportunity.

You can't always win arguments as a writer, but you have to just go ahead and say, well, I'm doing it that way anyway.

... and she had worn bitterness as though it were a crown.

When a knot gets to tight, you can always cut the rope