Terrence, the Roman slave who freed himself with his writings, once observed, "I am a human being. Nothing human is alien to me." That could be the motto of literature!

It's like my whole world is coming undone, but when I write, my pencil is a needle and thread, and I'm stitching the scraps back together.

Literature is about being a complex, contradictory human being.

There is no end to what can be said about the world

Each of us will have to make the choices that allow us to be the largest versions of ourselves.

A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart.

But the sensibility of the writer, whether fiction or poetry, comes from paying attention. I tell my students that writing doesn't begin when you sit down to write. It's a way of being in the world, and the essence of it is paying attention.