His outflung hands traced over the threads of his rug, passed loop by loop through some patient woman's hands. Or maybe she hadn't been patient. Maybe she'd been tired, or irritated, or distracted, or hungry, or angry. Maybe she had been dying. But her hands had kept moving, all the same.

Children might or might not be a blessing, but to create them and then fail them was surely damnation.

When the souls rise up in glory, yours shall not be shunned nor sunderered, but shall be the prize of the gods' gardens. Even your darkness shall be treasured then, and all your pain made holy.

For me, writing is more a process of discovering the book than planning it.

All the geniuses I ever met were so just part of the time. To qualify, you only have to be great once, you know. Once when it matters.

When I go down into the ground at last, as God is my judge, I pray my best-beloved may have better to say of me than, "He didn't hit me."

Never do yourself, what you can con professionals into doing for you.