Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as 'good' and other sorts as 'bad' is fearful behavior.

Quiet people have the loudest minds.

Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.

The water was glassy and calm, still candy-colored in the afterglow of sunset.

A life without love is like a tree without fruit.

The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.

Outside, daylight was bleeding slowly toward dusk.

You can't deny laughter; when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants.

People who try hard to do the right thing always seem mad.

The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there... and still on your feet.

I just wore a cage my whole career coming up, and didn't feel a reason not to have some type of protection.

Freedom comes from human beings, rather than from laws and institutions.

I have no grand scheme.

I love the writers in Austin. We stick together. We all like each other and go to each other's book signings in case no one else shows up.

What makes me vulnerable is speaking up about topics that may be controversial to others.

All who drink of this remedy recover in a short time except those whom it does not help, who all die.

What are we but our stories?

I feel like what I'm best at is being a musician and a performer. I want to use that to help people who are good at starting nonprofits.

Love is the only thing that counts. Love is what keeps the star and the human beings and the world turning around. Love is the force that binds the whole universe together.

Words for mental processes are all derived from physical things.