But clearly life took people and shook them around until finally they were unrecognizable even to those who had once known them well. Still, there was power in once having known someone.

The child who was happy with herself meant the parents had won the jackpot.

Just the act of sleeping beside someone you liked to be with. Maybe that was love.

I've been waiting for someone to sign the permission slip for me to write about sex. In the meantime, I've written about sex in all my books anyway.

You had only one chance for a signature in life, but most people left no impression.

Objectifying your own novel while writing it never really helps. Instead, I guess while you're writing you need to think: This is the novel I want to write. And when you're done you need to think: This is what the novel I wanted to write feels like and reads like and looks like. Other people might call it sweeping or small, but it's the book you chose.

For me, a novel relying too heavily on a single idea might be a dry, deadly thing unless it possesses an animating force.