Nothing has a more sinister effect on art than the artist's desire to prove that he's good. The terrible temptation of idealism!

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you - it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.

He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.

You can no more make someone tell the truth than you can force someone to love you.

Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre.

The horror of being caged has lost its thrill.

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.

I have a slogan I use when I get anxious writing, which happens quite a bit: ‘the ordeal is part of the commitment.’ It’s one of my mantras. It makes a lot of things doable.

When the whole world doesn't believe in God, it'll be a great place.

Because that is when you love somebody - when you see them being game in the face of the worst. Not courageous. Not heroic. Just game.

There's always room for a unicorn in my life.(i.e. fantasy and imagination)

Even God lends a hand to honest boldness.

You've got the Democratic Party that now depends on more government spending and actual building the dependence on government in order to increase their political party.

Things begin, things decay, and you've got to find a way to be okay.

The simple secret is this: put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest to Him.

I'm always playing extremes, either the vulnerable girl or the vixen.

Identity is not found, the way Pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the bulrushes. Identity is built.

A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure.

What if you just did it your own way? No rules, no right or wrong, just what you think is beautiful?

There is never a sickness Jesus cannot heal and never a disease Jesus cannot cure. To God's power, nothing is impossible!