We criticize mothers for closeness. We criticize fathers for distance. How many of us have expected less from our fathers and appreciated what they gave us more? How many of us always let them off the hook?

I suppose we make kids the repository of our highest ideals because children are powerless. In that way we can have ideals and ignore them at the same time.

I think most of us become self-critical as soon as we become self-conscious.

Saving time, it seems, has a primacy that's too rarely examined.

I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who struggle to make one small difference.

Maybe at 20 you can write well, but I don't think you could do what I do. Some things have to happen to you first.

We want our children to fit in and to stand out. We rarely address the conflict between these goals.