All observations of life are harsh, because life is. I lament that fact, but I cannot change it.

There's something final about saying you were married once. It's like saying you were dead once. It shuts them up.

There are novels that end well, but in between there are human beings acting like human beings. And human beings are not perfect. All of the motives a human being may have, which are mixed, that's the novelists' materials. That's where they have to go. And a lot of that just isn't pretty. We like to think of ourselves as really, really good people. But look in the mirror. Really look. Look at your own mixed motives. And then multiply that.

In my dreams of this city I am always lost.

I myself discovered many authors through school reading lists and through school anthologies. The positives are: young readers can find the world opening up to them through books they study. The negatives may include bad experiences kids have - if they don't like the book or the teacher, or the way the book is taught.

Writers and books are cheap dates, especially when you compare the cost of a book with a ticket to the opera - or an NHL game.

You might 'write from the heart,' but you'd better polish with your brain.