The concept of writing a novel and not knowing where it's going - I don't know how to do that. Novels are plot- and character-driven, so if I don't know what becomes of people, how can I know where it should begin?

Being wrong about important things is exhausting.

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

You think you have a memory; but it has you!

But I often think that so-called glamorous people are just very busy people.

This was not of the nature of a Christlike lesson for Owen Meany to learn, as he lay in the manger, that someone you hate can give you a hard-on.

I've always been slow but I'm even slower now. I'm more into the waiting, or I guess I'm more patient about the waiting.