Following Christ has nothing to do with success as the world sees success. It has to do with love.

You cannot see the past that did not happen any more than you can foresee the future.

A truly great work of art breaks beyond the bounds of the period and culture in which it is created, so final judgement on a current book has to be deferred until it can be seen outside this present moment.

We are all strangers in a strange land, longing for home, but not quite knowing what or where home is. We glimpse it sometimes in our dreams, or as we turn a corner, and suddenly there is a strange, sweet familiarity that vanishes almost as soon as it comes...

You don't want him for a reason. You want him because he's your father.

Death is contagious; it is contracted the moment we are conceived.

Stories have a richness that goes way beyond fact. My writing knows more than I know. What a writer must do is listen to her book. It might take you where you don't expect to go.