No one survives in times of war unless they make war their home. How did I get so old and wise, but for welcoming war into my house and making friends with him? Better to befriend the enemy and hang on. Something worse might come along, which might be amusing or might not.

That's the real power of art, I think. Not to chide but to provoke challenge. Otherwise why bother?

To consider what other people might say is hardly a good reason to take action or to defer it. You have your own life to live, Iris, and at its end, the only opinion that amounts to anything is that which God bestows

She dreamed of leaving, but she had too little exposure to the world to imagine where to go.

...and he kissed her and kissed her and kissed her, little by little by little.

Before catechisms can instill a proper humility, small children know the truth that their own existence has caused the world to bloom into being.

...the reasons just reassemble themselves in different patterns every time I think about it.