Guilt is petty; I am above guilt.

All writers have strengths and weaknesses. I am terrified of being boring, so I write short, compressed stories that sometimes don't give a reader time to think about what they have read. I struggle to slow down.

I think 12-step programs really work, rehab really works, certain types of therapies and talking to other addicts really work. There are a lot of things that work - that isn't the problem. The problem is getting the addicts to say they're addicts. The problem is admitting it.

When Tolstoy wrote that all happy families are alike, what he meant was that there are no happy families.

Death is terrifying because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time.

Pregnancy is difficult for women but it is even more difficult for men.

There were a number of books about Bill Wilson, and by him, but a lot of the basic biographical tasks had not been done.