We’d hoped for love of a different kind, love that knew and forgave our human frailty but did not miniaturize our grander ideas of ourselves.

You grow weary of being treated as the enemy simply because you are not young anymore; because you dress unexceptionally.

A writer should always feel like he's in over his head

I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.

Language in fiction is made up of equal parts meaning and music. The sentences should have rhythm and cadence, they should engage and delight the inner ear.

You want to give him the book of his own life, the book that will locate him, parent him, arm him for the changes.

Here is the world, and you live in it, and are grateful. You try to be grateful.