Happiness is a specific. Misery is a generalization. People usually know exactly why they are happy. They very rarely know why they are miserable.

I like to look at how people work together when they are put into stressful situations, when life stops being cozy.

Art can make a difference because it pulls people up short. It says, don't accept things for their face value; you don't have to go along with any of this; you can think for yourself.

I don't know how to answer. I know what I think, but words in the head are like voices underwater. They are distorted.

I felt like a seed in a pomegranate. Some say that the pomegranate was the real apple of Eve, fruit of the womb, I would eat my way into perdition to taste you.

Quest is at the heart of what I do-the holy grail, and the terror that you'll never find it, seemed a perfect metaphor for life.

I find pieces of myself everywhere, and I cut myself handling them.

Do you fall in love often?" Yes often. With a view, with a book, with a dog, a cat, with numbers, with friends, with complete strangers, with nothing at all.

I would eat my way into perdition to taste you.

Life cannot be calculated. That's the big mistake our civilization made. We never accepted that randomness is not a mistake in the equation -- it is part of the equation.

Everything in writing begins with language. Language begins with listening.

Don't build your dreams on the opinions of men but on the promises of God

The lights became stars, which became streaks in the grayspace, and then networks of fading shimmers

Trust opens the door that pain had sealed shut.

I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make.

I would just think that I would remember modeling for the cover of an album with Tom Waits, who I've always loved.

I'm trying to put the ridiculousness to bed. The president of the United States is the president of the United States.

Rice Krispies happens to be one of my favorite junk foods, just as I regard Michener as superior among junk writers.

I'm very happy - if I can do even a little bit of work to get the short story out more, I'm thrilled.

A vacation trip is one-third pleasure, fondly remembered, and two-thirds aggravation, entirely forgotten.

We hold ourselves back in ways both big and small, by lacking self-confidence, by not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning in.