I suspected that there were things he knew that I had been waiting all my life to learn.

Ignorance is a self-generating state of mind; one of its characteristics is that it doesn't recognize itself as ignorance.

With any novel that you begin, you can't foresee how difficult or easy it's going to be, and you can't really prepare yourself. You just have a take it one step at a time and know that it's all right to keep going - you can always fix it.

English majors understand human nature better than economists do.

Your sons weren't made to like you. That's what grandchildren are for.

The fundamental condition of childhood is powerlessness.

Somehow, knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories, to think through certain issues as only a novel can do, to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.