What are you afraid of? I'm afraid of not recognizing Paradise.

Aid workers, when handing out food to starving people, quickly learn that the people fighting for it at the front are the people who need it least. It's the people sitting quietly at the back, too weak to fight, who need it the most. And so too with tragedy.

Every decade of my life I attempted to write a novel. But I had nothing to say. I was far too self-absorbed, and now I realize I was writing for others, so that they'd applaud me, see my genius, tell me how wonderful I am, or be jealous of my success.

Where there is love there is courage, where there is courage there is peace, where there is peace there is God. And when you have God, you have everything.

A good novel is a good novel, pointe finale. And I think what I'm writing is exactly that.

Or - perhaps - I should just worry about my own behavior and let others be who they are.

How much more courage it took to be kind than to be cruel.