Anyone who thinks sitting in church can make you a Christian must also think that sitting in a garage can make you a car.

Writing is the main gig and teaching and performing are sidelines, an excuse for not writing more. Working on a novel and on an opera make me seriously want to retire and find a volunteer job as a docent at the zoo explaining to schoolchildren where frogs go in the winter.

Intelligence is like four-wheel drive. It only allows you to get stuck in more remote places.

Honesty is a rare commodity in a palace, and that is why so many fairy-tale marriages end up on the rocks.

I want to resume the life of a shy person.

Some people think it is difficult to be a Christian and to laugh, but I think it's the other way around. God writes a lot of comedy, its just that he has so many bad actors.

Humor is not a trick, not jokes. Humor is a presence in the world - like grace - and shines on everybody.