The ghosts that exert the most power in people’s lives-at least, the people I know–tend to be of their own making, and consist of equal parts regret and old fears and just plain missing somebody.

So much of reading and writing to me is about being elsewhere, no matter how much I love where I am.

Every time I fall in love with a book, I just feel grateful and thrilled to have it in my life.

Richard Shindell works impressive alchemy with the plainest, most primal American pop melodies.

Love the work: the grind, the dreaming, the distracted not-sleep, all of it.

Love the work: the grind, the dreaming, the distracted not-sleep, all of it. It’s the one thing in the job that will always be there, and the real pleasure in the profession. Everything else is luck.

I know that nurses are not only the largest healthcare profession but are responsible for the delivery of most healthcare, and are often in the best place to be able to see the whole pathway of care.

To execute laws is a royal office; to execute orders is not to be a king. However, a political executive magistracy, though merely such, is a great trust.

You see what stupid folk my publishers are; but they are all alike.

If you're extremely, painfully frightened of age, it shows.

I really hope that people feel permission to talk about their own troubles, but also to celebrate themselves.

I pressed down the mental accelerator. The old lemon throbbed fiercely. I got an idea.

You don't get over hating to cook, any more than you get over having big feet.

We cannot enslave others without enslaving a part of ourselves.

I think I'm more approachable with long hair. When it's short, I come across as being artsy and weird.

For the longest time, I wanted to become a pianist. That was kinda my thing.