Abandonment by a lover won't kill us. But it awakens the parts of us that remember when it could.

The frustration of being marginalized often gets misdirected at the most visible members of one's own community, because they are more accessible than the real agents of marginalization.

It has been my experience that the people I judge most harshly are the ones in whom I recognize some part of myself.

Anyone who makes a life of what they love is a hero to me, and it's important for those people to be visible in every kind of life, every kind of love, every kind of work.

New York at night, from its bridges, is a miracle. When I first came to the city, it took all my fantasies and set them on fire, turned them into flickering constellations of light.

You don't have to write like David Foster Wallace or James Baldwin or Maggie Nelson - indeed, you shouldn't. Those writers are doing it better than you ever could.

I can still discern people's weaknesses, but it doesn't make me want to exploit them; it makes me want to hug them.

Torch songs are confessions. They are an expression of feeling that cannot be concealed or contained or minimized. They are marked by anguish, yes, but also by yielding.

The craft work becomes a mediator between me and my secrets, between me and the listener.

Letting go of the cozy stories you've been carrying around is devastating. But there's more room for new stuff after you do it.

Being celibate was so wonderful. It taught me a lot about love, but even more about my own self outside of love. I'd never met myself out of love before, really.

Within this new work of art a creature from beyond the reach of Humanity has insinuated herself and now lurks there at the heart of the mystery, a power unimagined before our time.

Is the any religion like a right act?

Be faithful in your calling and you will fulfill your ministry to the end

I'd be somewhat of a lousy writer if I didn't know what to say.

The glittering generalities of the speaker have left an impression more delightful than permanent.

One of the hallmarks of an evolved person is the ability to tell the truth with no fear of punishment or expectation of reward

It is because of men that women dislike one another.

I do think that the Republican Party is in a crisis right now, a crisis of confidence about who we are.

it's smarter to be lucky than it's lucky to be smart.

That's when you know you're a true married couple: when you have to apologize for what you did in her dream.