Have fun writing, because it enhances both the writer's and reader's experience.

You must read a lot of personal essays - you needn't reinvent the wheel.

My other work, teaching, also is satisfying because I can be with people but in controlled circumstances, which aren't as likely to yield the pain of dealing with family.

Why am I attracted to all these lying quotes all of a sudden? Here’s another one. This one by Phillip Lopate: ‘(Children know it better than adults) that in telling a lie, fidelity is everything.’

Hedonism can be a rational response to a difficult life.

Most good essays are conversations with yourself - not just your decided thoughts but your dilemmas.

I am apt to be harsh in my secret judgments of others, seeing them as defective because they are not enough like me.