Forgiveness should be an act, but this is a state with him.

Autumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day.

It is in this unearthly first hour of spring twilight that earth's almost agonized livingness is most felt. This hour is so dreadful to some people that they hurry indoors and turn on the lights.

Language is a mixture of statement and evocation.

Dialogue in fiction is what characters do to one another.

... love dreads being isolated, being left to speak in a void -- at the beginning it would often rather listen than speak.

If a theme or idea is too near the surface, the novel becomes simply a tract illustrating an idea.