You tasted it. Isn't that enough? Of what do you ever get more than a taste? That's all we're given in life, that's all we're given of life. A taste. There is no more.

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you - it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.

He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.

You can no more make someone tell the truth than you can force someone to love you.

Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre.

The horror of being caged has lost its thrill.

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.

I have a slogan I use when I get anxious writing, which happens quite a bit: ‘the ordeal is part of the commitment.’ It’s one of my mantras. It makes a lot of things doable.

When the whole world doesn't believe in God, it'll be a great place.

Because that is when you love somebody - when you see them being game in the face of the worst. Not courageous. Not heroic. Just game.

Focus on joy, not on hurt or fear.The earth will dance, peace to share.

I don't really believe in pretending to be happy when you're not. Mostly I believe that you should burden your friends with your problems.

It is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one's own personality. Good prose is like a windowpane.

I struggle every day with trying to be a better dad, a better husband, better musician, better artist. It consumes me, and I don't see an end in sight.

One person seeking glory doesn't accomplish much. Success is the result of people pulling together to meet common goals.

If you knew that you only had one day to live, what would you think about-your car or favorite pair of shoes or would it be the more everyday joys that occupy your mind?

Those who have the habit of revelation lose the habit of thought.

Why does one need a doctor if God has given us our body and we pray to Him for our help?

The root of evil is in the illusion that we are bodies. This, if any, is the original sin.

To write requires an ego, a belief that what you say matters. Writing also requires an aching curiosity leading you to discover, uncover, what is gnawing at your bones.