I know that to write you have to have stories you want to tell. You have to keep your mind alive, and you have to work hard.

Writing is revision. All prose responds to work.

I wrote a novel about the combat experiences I didn't have in Vietnam.

In a very basic way, a prominent landmark such as Mt. Holyoke tells you where you are. They let you know that you're not the first person in a place

I usually write about ordinary people and ordinary things, but Paul Farmer is the least ordinary person I've ever met... He's the leader of a small group of people who hope to cure a sick world, and I hope my book can help in some small way.

The goofiness of radicals thinking they have to dress in Guatemalan peasant clothes. The poor don't want you to look like them. They want you to dress in a suit and go get them food and water. Comma.

If you had an essentially happy childhood, that tends to dwell with you.