The object of war is to survive it.

There's no reason you should write any novel quickly.

...I suddenly realized what small towns are. They are places where you grow up with the peculiar-you live next door to the strange and the unlikely for so long that everything and everyone become commonplace.

It's not right to hurt or deceive someone who's already been hurt and deceived.

It is exhausting to be seventeen and not know who you are.

The building of the architecture of a novel - the craft of it - is something I never tire of.

The excitement of anticipation was *almost* equal to the thrill of lovemaking.