The truth is that we can overhaul our surroundings, renovate our environment, talk a new game, join a new club, far more easily than we can change the way we respond emotionally. It is easier to change behavior than feelings about that behavior.

Our 'mistakes' become our crucial parts, sometimes our best parts, of the lives we have made.

Values are not trendy items that are casually traded in.

Parents remain our touchstones, fellow travelers, even after death. They are both missing and present.

When you live alone, you can be sure that the person who squeezed the toothpaste tube in the middle wasn't committing a hostile act.

Taboos are falling across our culture like dominoes. What was unspeakable yesterday dominates talk shows today.

I rewrite a great deal. I'm always fiddling, always changing something. I'll write a few words - then I'll change them. I add. I subtract. I work and fiddle and keep working and fiddling, and I only stop at the deadline.