. . .There are moments when time does stop. We must be alert enough to notice such moments . . .

Half my life is an act of revision; more than half the act is performed with small changes.

Whatever I write, no matter how gray or dark the subject matter, it's still going to be a comic novel.

If you feel strongly about people having abortions, don't have one. But we are a country - USA - that likes to be punitive. We want to restrict. It is a kind of religious fervor run amuck.

…there was no more safety to be found in love than there was to be found in a virus.

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

Whereas she wished more of the population were better educated, she also believed that education was largely wasted on the majority of the people she met.