There is no cosmic scale on which you can weigh your actions; you learn too late what choices ruin the fragile balance.

You can fool yourself, you know. You'd think it's impossible, but it turns out it's the easiest thing of all.

It's hard to be the one always waiting. I mean, there's something to be said for the hero who charges off to battle, but when you get right down to it there's a whole story in who's left behind.

He began to trace a pattern on the table with the nail of his thumb. "She kept saying she wanted to keep things exactly the way they were, and that she wished she could stop everything from changing. She got really nervous, like, talking about the future. She once told me that she could see herself now, and she could also see the kind of life she wanted to have - kids, husband, suburbs, you know - but she couldn't figure out how to get from point A to point B.

Writing is grunt work - you need to have self-motivation, perseverance, and faith... talent is the smallest part of it.

I think that's probably the most devastating thing - when someone who is larger than life winds up a shadow of themselves in a hospital bed.

What you didn't tell someone was just as debilitating as what you did.