...But all that power has culminated in gentleness. It is as if that is the point of power: to allow one to access the higher registers of gentleness.

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.

Thief!- how did you crawl into, crawl down alone into the death I wanted so badly and for so long.

In the eyes of government we are just one race here. It is American.

A lot of people are always striving for bigger and better. People are always wondering if the grass is greener and then they'll​ start hearing things or meeting other people.

If I can't change the people around me, I change the people around me.

Real friendship is shown in times of trouble; prosperity is full of friends.

Reality can destroy the dream; why shouldn't the dream destroy reality?

Right on through today, my lungs and stamina are my engine. I'm not nearly the strongest guy or the most flexible, but I can definitely sustain pace on the mountain.

Every doer of the law and every moral worker is accursed, for he walketh in the presumption of his own righteousness.

If I'm going to be out there, I want to be in the top 10 and really have a chance of winning a Grand Slam.

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.