Brooklyn has a bit of everything - some of the most beautiful things in America, and some of the most wretched, ugly, impoverished things.

Novels are fictions and therefore they tell lies, but through those lies every novelist attempts to tell the truth about the world.

There's hope for everyone. That's what makes the world go round.

Stories only happen to those who are able to tell them.

It always stimulates me to discover new examples of my own prejudice and stupidity, to realize that I don't know half as much as I think I do.

One should never underestimate the power of books.

If you're not ready for everything, you're not ready for anything.

Everything can change at any moment, suddenly and forever.

It often happens that things are other than what they seem, and you can get yourself into trouble by jumping to conclusions.

Memory is the space in which a thing happens for a second time.

It seems to me that I will always be happy in the place where I am not.

A small sharp axe can cut down more trees than a big dull one.

What the culture of get rich quick does to our people is People don’t believe that hard work is worth it.

There is an inherent unity and harmony in the universe. The divisions and disharmony we find on earth are created by the perception of separateness that people developed over a period of time.

It may be a coincidence, but from the minute I took anti-depressants, I didn't pick up a guitar or a pen for seven years.

It's OK to offend people with the Gospel, but, good grief- let's don't offend them with something else.

Fiction, poetry, music...these are the places (for me) where loneliness is countenanced, stared down, transfigured, treated.

Exact knowledge is the enemy of vitalism.

To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.

Among the fearless soldiers that fight for your victory in life, character has no equal.

Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze. I will not budge for no man's pleasure.