One old lady who wants her head lifted wouldn't be so bad, but you multiply her two hundred and fifty thousand times and what you get is a book club.

The meaning of the story is the story.

It is a good deal easier for most people to state an abstract idea than to describe and thus re-create some object they actually see.

All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless and brutal.

The truth is not distorted here, but rather a distortion is used to get at truth.

Ours is the first age in history which has asked the child what he would tolerate learning.

I distrust pious phrases, especially when they issue from my mouth. I try militantly never to be affected by the pious language of the faithful but it is always coming out when you least expect it. In contrast to the pious language of the faithful, the liturgy is beautifully flat.