Then I said something. I said, Suppose, just suppose, nothing had ever happened. Suppose this was for the first time. Just suppose. It doesn't hurt to suppose. Say none of the other had ever happened. You know what I mean? Then what? I said.

Mel thought real love was nothing less than spiritual love. He'd said he'd spent five years in a seminary before quitting to go to medical school. He said he still looked back on those years in the seminary as the most important years of his life.

We knew our days were numbered. We had fouled up our lives and we were getting ready for a shake-up.

Write about what you know, and what do you know better than your own secrets?

Happiness. It comes on unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really, any early morning talk about it.

The places where water comes together with other water. Those places stand out in my mind like holy places.

I am too nervous to eat pie.