I begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character.

I grew up in a family where, through my teenage years, I was expected to go to church on Sunday. It wasn't terribly painful.

You cannot drive with your eyes in the rear-view mirror… But dignity is difficult to maintain. Stamina requires constant upkeep. Repetition is boring. And you pay for grace.

Garp drank the beer and wondered if everything was an anticlimax.

If you feel strongly about people having abortions, don't have one.

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 begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character.