Most of the cruelty in the world is just misplaced energy.

It's a funny thing about rap, that when you say 'I' into the microphone, it's like a public confession. It's very strange.

Other people’s words are so important. And then without warning they stop being important, along with all those words of yours that their words prompted you to write. Much of the excitement of a new novel lies in the repudiation of the one written before. Other people’s words are the bridge you use to cross from where you were to wherever you’re going.

Desire is never final, desire is imprecise and impractical [...]

It was a kiss from the past.

...They cannot escape their history any more than you yourself can lose your shadow.

Then he gave her a kiss on the forehead that felt like a baptism and she wept like a baby.