Among adults – and among orphans – Wilbur Larch noted that delirious happiness was rare.

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

Our memory is a monster; you forget it - it does not.

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

Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.

It was one of those ridiculous arrangements that couples make when they are separating, but before they are divorced - when they still imagine that children and property can be shared with more magnanimity than recrimination.

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