I like to be surprised. The best writing is when it defies me, when it starts going a different way than I had planned.

The roundness of life's design may be a sign that there is a presence beyond ourselves.

People waste their happiness - that's what makes me sad. Everyone's so scared to be happy.

I love the most the students with troubled lives.

Getting a job scared her but she was determined not to shy away from risk. That's what life's all about. Climbing out onto the airplane wing and jumping off.

So many bad things have happened to them that they can't trust the good things. They have to shove them away before someone can get it back.

I won't read novels while writing novels.