The novel remains for me one of the few forms where we can record man's complexity and the strength and decency of his longings.

I was here on earth because I chose to be.

Never eat a heavily sugared doughnut before you go on TV.

When the beginnings of self destruction enter the heart, it seems no bigger than a grain of sand.

Children drown, beautiful women are mangled in automobile accidents, cruise ships founder, and men die lingering deaths in mines and submarines, but you will find none of this in my accounts.

I write to make sense of my life." -John Cheever, quoted in _Cheever - A Life_ (2009) by Blake Bailey

The novel remains for me one of the few forms where we can record man's complexity and the strength and decency of his longings.