Like a starfish, the heart endures its amputation.

I know now that we never get over great losses; we absorb them, and they carve us into different, often kinder, creatures.

Old dogs can be a regal sight. Their exuberance settles over the years into a seasoned nobility, their routines become as locked into yours as the quietest and kindest of marriages.

Maybe this is the point: to embrace the core sadness of life without toppling headlong into it, or assuming it will define your days.

What they never tell you about grief is that missing someone is the simple part.

memory is both the curse of grief and the eventual talisman against it; what at first seems unbearable becomes the succor that can outlast pain.

Hope in the beginning feels like such a violation of the loss, and yet without it we couldn't survive.

The real hell of this," he told her, "is that you're going to get through it.

the territory of grief ... is both cruel and commonplace.

That she was irreplaceable became a bittersweet loyalty: Her death was what I had now instead of her.

Scratch a fantasy and you'll find a nightmare.

When the world becomes peaceful for the birds, the birds will sing a harmonious chorale

EVERYTIMEA GIRL WISHESTOBE A BOY BADLY, IT'S A SIGNAL THAT OUT SOCIETY FAILED IN ITS DEEDS SOMEWHERE.

Writing is the painting of the voice.

The universe is made up of stories not of atoms.

Heck, nobody gets along perfectly. But what we have is respect for one another. We have a system where one guy can veto anything.

If I go out one night, I must stay in the next. It's the same with my golf. If I play one day, I don't play the next. I try to pace myself.

The Lord never makes a mistake. One day, when we are in heaven, I'm sure we shall see the answers to the whys.

The Israelis have suffered a great deal, we must condemn suicide bombers, and we must never say that the plight of the Palestinians justifies this terrible thing.

A lot of people have a misconception of what the ghetto is all about. You know, it's only a small percentage of the people that are bad. Everybody else is good.

I want people to like me. They don't have to always like my characters, you understand