Just when you begin thinking of yourself as memorable, you run into someone who can't even remember having met you

Grant us safe lodging, and holy rest,” Mrs. Grogan was saying, “and peace at last.” Amen, thought Wilbur Larch, the Saint of St. Cloud’s, who was seventy-something, and an ether addict, and who felt that he’d come a long way and still had a long way to go.

Writing is hard. I learned how to work hard from wrestling, not English courses.

Crazy people made him crazy. It was as if he personally resented them giving into madness - in part, because he so frequently labored to behave sanely. When some people gave up the labor of sanity, or failed at it, Garp suspected them of not trying hard enough.

I certainly think Obama is the most hopeful president I've seen in the country since John Kennedy.

I believe a novel should be as complicated and involved as you're capable of making it.

People only ask questions when they're ready to hear the answers.