I know that attaching memories to books may be going out of the world, but while it lasts, it's a strong record of your life.

What if you had faith and performed good works, what if you died and went to heaven, and what if all the people you met there were people you didn't like?

The ideas for my books come about in two ways. There can be an intellectual idea that seems to be the reason for writing the book. [...] The other motive is unconscious. There is something deeply psychological and emotional that draws me to the material in the first place.

And in some of the houses, people were getting old and sick and were dying, leaving others to grieve. It was happening all the time, unnoticed, and it was the thing that really mattered. What really mattered in life, what gave it weight, was death.

I spend most of every day writing. I like to write every day if I can. I don't start extremely early.

I don’t know what you’re feeling, I won’t even pretend

It was amazing how it worked: the tiniest bit of truth made credible the greatest lies.