Time was the only variable in every equation of power and oppression--how long before the pot boiled over.

What I've come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures, but in the simple accumulation of gentle, soft, almost invisible acts of compassion.

You know, you can steel your heart against any kind of trouble, any kind of horror. But the simple act of kindness from a complete stranger will unstitch you.

In this time of the Internet and nonfiction, to be on an actual bookshelf in an actual bookstore is exciting in itself.

What we know about who we are comes from stories. It's the agents of our imagination who really shape who we are.

The privilege of being a writer is that you have this opportunity to slow down and to consider things.

People think that writing is writing, but actually writing is editing. Otherwise, you're just taking notes

My friend Ronald Gottesman says...that the cause of all our trouble is the belief in an essential, pure identity: religious, ethnic, historical, ideological.

You can count on Scandinavian literature for a certain kind of darkness, a modern mythic style.

Men do communicate, often very directly, but women sometimes cannot accept how simple what we have to say is. We seldom play games--we aren't that sophisticated.

Before you speak, my friend, remember, a spiritual man contain his anger. Angry words are like slap in de face.

When can you understand that the music you play is very good? It is when people look at you but see no one, no one but the music!

To create today is to create dangerously. Any publication is an act, and that act exposes one to the passions of an age that forgives nothing.

The scenery in the play was beautiful, but the actors got in front of it.

The rich can buy everything but health, virtue, friendship, wit, good looks, love, pride, intelligence, grace, and, if you need it, happiness.

That's what we're all sort of trying to do in our lives - to make the simplest things work out the best.

Continued dependence on relief inducers a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber.

The Met is not only the finest encyclopedic museum of art in the United States; it is arguably the finest anywhere.

A really good detective never gets married.

What is philosophy but a continual battle against custom?

When good ideas get put to bad use, it is the fault of the user, not the idea.