Writing a first novel takes so much effort, with such little promise of result or reward, that it must necessarily be a labour of love bordering on madness.

All writing is an act of self-exploration. Even a grocery list says something about you; how much more does a novel say?

Im like the painter with his nose to the canvas, fussing over details. Gazing from a distance, the reader sees the big picture.

In politics, reality and appearance are of equal importance. You cannot attend to one and neglect the other. A man must determine both what he is, and what others believe him to be.

Even the crudest, most derivative novel is an expression of the author's hopes and fears and ideas about good and evil.

I can't say I had an ideal father, and I'm not a father myself.

There was no arguing with a man's faith in the legends of his childhood.

I think we live in an age of increasing mediocrity.

Sometimes I get so bold and I'm so confident about what I'm doing that I actually try to be more of a dork because it's a really liberating feeling to experience what it's like to not care.

Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.

On a specific day marked on the earth's calendar, and in a specific place on the earth's map, the Son of God came to the planet. It was love.

I started finding hearts in things - whether it was like, a tree I was passing, a straw wrapper on the ground, I think the heart has one continuous line, which is very powerful.

We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society.

When you really put your heart in the work, you don't think of how you look. And I think that's the beauty of it.

How easily a fathers tenderness is recalled, and how quickly a son's offenses vanish at the slightest word of repentance!

Never let anyone define you. You are the only person who defines you. No one can speak for you. Only you speak for you. You are your only voice.