I don't really think of writing as a career. It's something that happened to me. By working harder than I knew it was possible to work, I have become passable at it.

You mustn’t be so open-minded that your brains fall out.

Addiction isnt about substance - you arent addicted to the substance, you are addicted to the alteration of mood that the substance brings.

There is no such thing as expecting too much.

Writers often write their best when they are feeling their worst

I believe that the memoir is the novel of the 21st century; it’s an amazing form that we haven’t even begun to tap…we’re just getting started figuring out what the rules are.

The actual American childhood is less Norman Rockwell and Walt Disney than Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe.

Dogs are great teachers. They are at home in the world. They live in the moment, and they force us to stay there with them. Dogs love us unconditionally, not for our bodies or bank accounts.

Womens currency is their looks. Like it or not, the most powerful woman is an 18-year-old woman.

Personal experience is the lightning of the soul; it transforms the heart in ways that leave the brain behind.

Death is terrifying because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time.

It is our duty as believers to bring joy and fortune to the less privileged among us

A relationship is hard in and of itself. And having kids is really hard work, but I think it's really meaningful, as is a relationship. But they all take work.

At the Oscars, if you didn't vote for '12 Years a Slave' you were a racist.

Don't try to outguess what's going on in publishing, and write what you want to write.

Food, one assumes, provides nourishment; but Americans eat it fully aware that small amounts of poison have been added to improve its appearance and delay its putrefaction.

All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.

As long as we wish for safety, we will have difficulty pursuing what matters.

Apocalypse has come and gone. We're just grubbing in the ashes.

I just love to impersonate people, and I impersonate people because I find them fascinating.

We can choose to throw stones, to stumble on them, to climb over them, or to build with them.