Poor Oscar. Without even realizing it he'd fallen into one of those Let's Be Friends Vortexes, the bane of nerdboys everywhere. These relationships were love's version of a stay in the stocks, in you go, plenty of misery guaranteed and what you got out of it besides bitterness and heartbreak nobody knows. Perhaps some knowledge of self and women.

Part of it is eight years of a black president, and white America still lost their [minds] about that. Part of it is a Republican politics of vicious, vicious partisan [stuff] that has completely poisoned what we would call the political rhetorical sphere. All of these things come together in a perfect storm.

You whispered my full name and we fell asleep in each other's arms and I remember how the next morning you were gone, completely gone, and nothing in my bed or the house could have proven otherwise.

She would be a new person, she vowed. They said no matter how far a mule travels it can never come back a horse, but she would show them all.

Nobody likes children, your mother assured you. That doesn't mean you don't have them.

The people I know who would support [Donald] Trump are keeping their mouths shut.

If you really want a prize, or if you really want applause, you should try to write as many books as humanly possible.