He had heard her say, so many times, that a society that approved of making abortion illegal was a society that approved of violence against women; that making abortion illegal was simply a sanctimonious, self-righteous form of violence against women- it was just another way of legalizing violence against women, Nurse Caroline would say.

It doesn't really matter who said it - it's so obviously true. Before you can write anything, you have to notice something.

Everyone has a right to be a little happy, asshole.

Wrestling was my first success, the first thing that confirmed that I could be good at anything. Devoting yourself to wrestling, or tennis, or skiing, or dance, or to a musical instrument is a longing to be disciplined for a purpose.

I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I don't mean only that I have to know what happens. I mean that I have to hear the actual sentences. I have to know what atmosphere the words convey.

When Jack Burns needed to hold his mother's hand, his fingers could see in the dark.

When people say that German or any other language is romantic... all they really mean is that they've enjoyed a past in the language