The great systems that inform the world about the truth and life invariably claim to be absolutely truthful and well-balanced. In reality they are quaking bridges built out of yearning.

It may be necessary to stand on the outside of one is to see things clearly.

He boils milk with fresh ginger, a quarter of a vanilla bean, and tea that is so dark and fine-leaved that it looks like black dust. He strains it and puts cane sugar in both our cups. There's something euphorically invigorating and yet filling about it. It tastes the way I imagine the Far East must taste.

The great systems that inform the world about the truth and life invariably claim to be absolutely truthful and well-balanced. In reality they are quaking bridges built out of yearning.

Confronted with people who have power, and who enjoy using it, I turn into a different person, a baser and meaner one.

Grief is a gift, something you have to earn.

To want to understand is an attempt to recapture something we have lost.