Whatever I write, no matter how gray or dark the subject matter, it's still going to be a comic novel.

I still believe in getting married in churches and baptizing children. I go through those motions.

Rituals are comforting; rituals combat loneliness.

If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.

It is much easier to be flexible about where a story begins than it ever was for me to change my mind about where and how a story ended.

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.

You're nice,' Cushie told him, squeezing his hand. 'And you're my oldest friend.' But they both must have known that you can know someone all your life and never quite be friends.