Murder, arson, adultery, drugging and drinking, cruel politics--reading a book crammed with such activities can make the timid and yearning among us feel like the happiest people in the world.

It's very important for a writer to be unnoticed, as quiet and unnoticed as possible.

I am slow. A sentence often takes an hour to compose before I throw it out. What can you do?

They were relieved that I was chosen by a human being, " she'd said to Angelica in her dry voice. "They were braced for an interspecies liaison.

Still she wondered: did the present deliver up the future, or must you chase your destiny like a harpoonist?

Architecture is undistinguished, sometimes derelict, but occasionally, as in 'Post and Beam, ' there is something arresting in a setting... the building behind the Cathedral.

I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards.

I don't know why, but the Bible always seems to come to me in my time of need, even with the exact words.

Being with my family is my highest priority.

If you don't have some sort of belief system by which to center your life, it's hard sometimes to understand why you would put up with your family.

Nature is our chapel.

I had an opportunity to play baseball in college, but I just didn't want to go to school. I started focusing on my music and it was game over!

I like James Franco. I think he's really cute. I remember a while ago there was a rumor going around that he was getting married and all my friends and I were freaking out. Yeah, I think he's cute!

Hark! She is called, the parting hour is come. Take thy farewell, poor world! Heaven must go home. . . .

We must learn to suffer more.

I fundamentally believe that in the moral balance of the human race, we right ourselves. If we feel like the ship's keel is off, we find a way to steer ourselves through the storm repeatedly.