There's a lot of ignorance about how long it takes to write a novel. There's a lot of ignorance about how long a novel is in your head before you start to write it.

What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us wind up in parentheses.

A personal injustice is stronger motivation than any instinct for philanthropy.

The arrangements that couples make in order to maintain civility in the midst of their journey to divorce are often most elaborate when the professed top priority is to protect a child.

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

but writers, Garp knew, were just observers - good and ruthless imitators of human behavior.

We permit bad taste in this country. In fact, we even encourage it - and reward it in all manner of ways.