When I'm writing, I like to seal everything off and face the wall, not to look outside the window. The only way out is through the sentences.

Writing is immensely difficult. The short forms especially.

Stories distribute the suffering so that it can be borne.

Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

Uncharged with invisible meaning, the visible is nothing, mere clay; and without visible circumstance, a territory, to connect to, our spirit is shapeless, nameless, and undefined.

And so the ordinary unendurable torments we all experienced were indeed exceptional in the way they were absorbed in each heart.

The theory of the teacher with all these immigrant kids was that if you spoke English loudly enough they would eventually understand.