The one of the great sadnesses of any life is knowing what you know now and then remembering what you did not know then.

I think precision in writing goes hand in hand with not trying to say everything. You try and say two-thirds, so the reader will involve himself or herself.

It doubles your perception, to write from the point of view of someone you're not.

Nowadays he doesn't think of his wife, though he knows he can turn around and evoke every move of her, describe any aspect of her, the weigh of her wrist on his heart during the night.

From this point on, she whispered, we will either find or lose our souls.

I tend not to know what the plot is or the story is or even the theme. Those things come later, for me.

You built your walls too, she tells him. So I have my wall. She says it glittering in a beauty he cannot stand. She with her beautiful clothes with her pale face that laughs at everyone who smiles at her.