You are helpful, and you are loved, and you are forgiven, and you are not alone.

That's always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfeast cereals based on color instead of taste.

A novel is a conversation between a reader and a writer.

That was the worst part about having cancer, sometimes: The physical evidence of disease separates you from other people.

We have to live with ambiguity. We have to give ourselves over to it. The question is: How? How are we going to live in a universe where important questions will always go unanswered?

I think all true stories are hopeful stories. I don't think there's any room for nihilism.

How strange and how lovely it is to be anything at all.