Even if something within me is ugly, writing is a pretty good place to play with that thing and to begin to really see it.

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.

Abraham, " he said. "I'm pleased to see you alive, old friend.""And I to see you dead.

Compromise is the best and cheapest lawyer.

My sister bought me a set at a candy store and taught me the moves.

The world is full of burled and gnarly knobs on which you can hang a metaphysical system. If you must.

History is not happenstance: it is conspiratorial. Carefully planned and executed by people in power.

I have seen life's purpose, and now it is my own.

If I was a locksmith, I'd be pimping that out man. I'll trade you a free key duplication for. That joke made me laugh before I could finish it, which is good, because it had no ending.

A small town has as many eyes as a fly

A short story is a different thing all together - a short story is like a kiss in the dark from a stranger.

Ah, let us kiss each other's eyes,/And laugh our love away.