You were at the age where you could fall in love with a girl over an expression, over a gesture. That's what happened with your girlfriend, Paloma- she stooped to pick up her purse and your heart flew out of you.

The only difference between a published and unpublished writer is a tolerance for imperfection.

What we [writers] do might be done in solitude and with great desperation, but it tends to produce exactly the opposite. It tends to produce community and in many people hope and joy.

The greatest myth of all is what America is. I think that America is such an incredibly dynamic place because of immigration.

Success, after all, loves a witness, but failure can't exist without one.

The thoughts he put in her head. Someone should’ve arrested him for it.

We all have a blind spot and it's shaped exactly like us.