Silence descended on the house. [....] Amma must have sensed that this was the sort of silence that, left unchallenged, could consume the family from within.

When you have no choice, you have no discontent either.

Old Barley might be as old as thee hills, and might swear like a whole field of troopers, but there were redeeming youth and trust and hope enough in Chinks's Basin to fill it to overflowing.

The heart is the only broken instrument that works.

I like normal stuff people fear - like spiders and heights. I'm frightened by the unknown, by things that are hard to figure out and get a grip on.

I think outsiders sometimes produce the best fictional perspectives on reality because they're set apart from it, so they have a unique view from the border.

The mirror is the mother dew, the book of desiccated twilights, echo become flesh.

Expanding your notion of fun beyond a two-week vacation in Maui increases the chances you'll have more of it.

For style beyond the genius never dares.

If you can't take a punch, you should play table tennis.

I grew up in North Devon, by the sea, and feel a special affinity for the landscape there, despite a lack of actual ancestry.

An affirmation is a strong, positive statement that something is already so.