Not every novel that wants to be a tragedy gets to be one.

My characters never die screaming in rage. They attempt to pull themselves back together and go on. And that's basically a conservative view of life.

A theory of creativity is actually just a metaphor. A pool of ideas, a well of memories, a voice.

Critical thinking is to a liberal education as faith is to religion. ... the converse was true also - faith is to a liberal education as critical thinking is to religion, irrelevant and even damaging.

I learned why 'out riding alone' is an oxymoron: An equestrian is never alone, is always sensing the other being, the mysterious but also understandable living being that is the horse.

Trollope wrote so many novels and other works that they tend to crowd each other out.

The brave view is that talking it out helps work it out. Maybe the realistic view is that talking it out inflames the issues further. But that is America, especially these days.