One of the things that I love about writing novels is that it really doesn't matter what next step you take as long as you're pursuing some intuition or instinct. Of course, then, intuitions or instincts don't make for great novels, but they often make for good first drafts.

We believed in our grandmother’s cooking more fervently than we believed in God.

She wanted nothing more than someone to miss, to touch, with whom to speak like a child, with whom to be a child.

I regret that it takes a life to learn how to live.

I realized that your mother couldn't see the emptiness, she couldn't see anything...All of the words I'd written to her over all of those years, had I never said anything to hear at all?

Nothing is beautiful and true.

It has shown me that everything is illuminated in the light of the past. It is always along the side of us...on the inside, looking out.