Your heart is like a great river after a long spell of rain, spilling over its banks. All signposts that once stood on the ground are gone, inundated and carried away by that rush of water. And still the rain beats down on the surface of the river. Every time you see a flood like that on the news you tell yourself: That’s it. That’s my heart.

According to Chekhov," Tamaru said, rising from his chair, "once a gun appears in a story, it has to be fired." "Meaning what?" "Meaning, don't bring unnecessary props into a story. If a pistol appears, it has to be fired at some point. Chekhov liked to write stories that did away with all useless ornamentation.

Adults need more complex narratives. They have their own narratives. The main characters are themselves.

Is action merely the incidental product of thought, or is thought the consequential product of action?

I happen to like the strange ones. People who look normal and leads normal lives - they're the ones you have to watch out for.

Death was not the opposite of life. It was already here, within my being, it had always been here, and no struggle would permit me to forget that.

Everything in life is a metaphor.