In the final exam in the Chaucer course we were asked why he used certain verbal devices, certain adjectives, why he had certain characters behave in certain ways. And I wrote, 'I don't think Chaucer had any idea why he did any of these things. That isn't the way people write.' I believe this as strongly now as I did then. Most of what is best in writing isn't done deliberately.

Sometimes when we aren't looking, the holiness comes breaking through like a rainbow.

Das Werk lobt den Meister. (German: The work proves the craftsman.)

There are times when I feel that he has withdrawn from me, and I have often given him cause, but Easter is always the answer to My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!

Inspiration does not always precede the act of writing; it often follows it.

Just write a little bit every day. Even if it's for only half an hour — write, write, write.

Basically there can be no categories such as 'religious' art and 'secular' art, because all true art is incarnational, and therefore 'religious.