Other people's devotions embarrassed me, perhaps because, like other people's kisses, they rarely looked genuine when viewed too closely.

Just breathing can be such a luxury sometimes.

The lines we draw that make us who we are are potent by virtue of being non-negotiable, and even, at some level, indefensible.

A writer is someone who tells you one thing so someday he can tell his readers another thing: what he was thinking but declined to say, or what he would have thought had he been wiser. A writer turns his life into material, and if you're in his life, he uses yours, too.

A writer turns his life into material, and if you’re in his life, he uses yours, too.

It looked like just the sort of family Americans dream of having: dumb and loving.

The best anti-depressant pill for me would be one the size of a house so you could drop it on me and put me out of my misery.