Friends are lights in winter; the older the friend, the brighter the light.

Time can be such a menace to a man. By this age do that; by that age do better.

Why, for example, do the great writers use anticipation instead of surprise? Because surprise is merely an instrument of the unusual, whereas anticipation of a consequence enlarges our understanding of what is happening.

If the sad truth be known, writers, being the misfits we are, probably ought not to belong to families in the first place. We simply are too self-interested, though we may excuse the flaw by calling it 'focused.'

What is the difference between grief and mourning? Mourning has company.

Children love to be alone because alone is where they know themselves, and where they dream.

Slum kids die slowly, their lives eroded at so languid a pace that even they would have trouble tracing the disintegration. To the children of war death explodes like a car bomb.