If I can be more efficient, I'm actually being more respectful to the reader, which then implies a greater intimacy with the reader.

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.

It is not enough to protect the source of the light

I think once I fail enough as a dad, I'll be looking for help wherever I can get it. I just need enough time to screw things up and then I'll start looking to TV dads for advice.

I'm searching, as we all are, for ways to feel good about myself. Certainly, looking in the mirror doesn't do it!

I love electronic music as much as I love something that sounds like 'Pullhair Rubeye,' or something a little bit more organic than that.

Your mind can only hold one thought at a time. Make it a positive and constructive one.

Men not only don't get what's important about what women are capable of, but in fact they fear it, and envy it, and want to throw stones at it, because it's the thing they can't have.

I love women and I love the women I have been with. I always try to be kind and cautious and treat people nice.

I love watching comedies. It's my favorite thing to watch and it always lifts my spirits.

The land is dearer for the sea, The ocean for the shore.

We must have safe places where people can discuss and be treated. Forty-four million people are already dead from AIDS. What logic is there in not discussing the word?