As a fiction writer, one of things you learn is God lives in specificity. You know, human kindness is increased as we pursue specificity.

I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character in half, on his birthday. And then it starts raining. And he's made of sugar.

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.

Developing our sympathetic compassion is not only possible but the only reason for us to be here on earth.

According to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving. Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now.

It's a big world, and I really like it.

Character is that sum total of moments we can't explain.

The generalizing writer is like the passionate drunk, stumbling into your house mumbling: I know I'm not being clear, exactly, but don't you kind of feel what I'm feeling?

Kindness, it turns out, is hard - it starts out all rainbows and puppy dogs, and expands to include . . . well, EVERYTHING.

I never want to be away from you again, except at work, in the restroom or when one of us is at a movie the other does not want to see.

True love does not put a person in a cage like a bird. It gives true freedom to soar.

Pride flees when we compare ourselves to God instead of [to] other people.

It's a struggle for every young Black man. You know how it is, only God can judge us.

Having a horse is a huge responsibility, so people should be very careful before they consider getting one.

We look at death through the cheap-glazed windows of the flesh, and believe him the monster which the flawed and cracked glass represents him.

We should not ask, ‘What is wrong with the world?’ for that diagnosis has already been given. Rather we should ask, “What has happened to salt and light?

Despite what people think, I was such a rule follower at school. I loved the whole slacker look, like, 'Hey, I don't care, whatever,' but if I didn't turn my homework in, I would panic.

A match made in heaven set the fires in hell.

... the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law.