Grief lasts longer than sympathy, which is one of the tragedies of the grieving.

For some people, history is simply what your wife looks good standing in front of. It’s what’s cast in bronze, or framed in sepia tones, or acted out with wax dummies and period furniture. It takes place in glass bubbles filled with water and chunks of plastic snow; it’s stamped on souvenir pencils and summarized in reprint newspapers. History nowadays is recorded in memorabilia. If you can’t purchase a shopping bag that alludes to something, people won’t believe it ever happened.

but you can't spend your whole life hoping people will ask you the right questions. you must learn to love and answer the questions they already ask.

Books remember all the things you cannot contain.

As for me, I believe that if there's a God - and I am as neutral on the subject as is possible - then the most basic proof of His existence is black humor. What else explains it, that odd, reliable comfort that billows up at the worst moments, like a beautiful sunset woven out of the smoke over a bombed city.

The idea of a library full of books, the books full of knowledge, fills me with fear and love and courage and endless wonder.

Enough fine weather and money and a few memorable meals make any place desirable.