Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open.

Just because you have stopped sinking doesn't mean you're not still underwater.

We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive.

They say the smart dog obeys but the smarter dog knows when to disobey.

Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.

Wear your heart on the page, and people will read to find out how you solved being alive.

In my head there's a broken balcony I fall off of when I speak.

if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive.

I sleep with a glass of water on the nightstand so I can see by its level if the coastal earth is trembling or if the shaking is still me.

I want to know everything about you, so I tell you everything about myself.

I exaggerated even before I began to exaggerate, because it's true — nothing is ever quite as bad as it could be.

The value of marriage is not that adults produce children, but that children produce adults.

You are the magical fairy that makes things happen in your life. Don't wait for someone else to make your dreams come true.

I was awarded 'Most Aggressive Rider of the Day', generally given to the most spectacular loser of the day.

I don't want to make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.

You spend so much of your life basing yourself on what you think other people think of you. Then you realise that maybe one of the purposes of life is not to care.

Change often involves loss, so change can be a risky experience.

The work is the most fun; it seems illicit how much fun it is.

Sometimes you don't realize how far you've gotten until you look around at the people who are still trailing far behind you.

Maybe I'm not as big a star as Bruce Springsteen because I'm not as good. I don't know. It doesn't matter. I still have an audience of a certain size. I think it's one of the things I'm luckiest.