They had nothing to say to each other. A five-year age gap between siblings is like a garden that needs constant attention. Even three months apart allows the weeds to grow up between you.

Try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.

You must live life with the full knowledge that your actions will remain. We are creatures of consequence.

For ridding oneself of faith is like boiling seawater to retrieve the salt--something is gained but something is lost.

When I was 13, I really used to skip down the street, happy in thinking, "Oh, well, someone's suffering pain in order for me to feel this pleasure."

Sometimes I think my whole professional life has been based on this hunch I had, early on, that many people feel just as muddled as I do, and might be happy to tag along with me on this search for clarity, for precision. I love that aspect of writing. Nothing makes me happier than to hear a reader say: that’s just what I’ve always felt, but you said it clearly.

Any woman who counts on her face is a fool.